Professor Vicki Ann Cremona has been confirmed as president of the rule of law NGO Repubblika.

Cremona had spent the past months leading the organisation as its acting president, following the resignation of Robert Aquilina.

She was formally appointed to the post at a special members’ meeting held on Friday. Renato Camilleri will serve as vice president, with Aquilina serving as honorary president.

Cremona is a professor at the University of Malta's Theatre Studies department and a former ambassador to France. It is her second stint as Repubblika president: she also led the organisation in 2019-2020.

Vicki Ann Cremona Photo: Repubblika

In a speech, Cremona pledged to give the NGO’s education and citizenship initiatives a push and to involve Repubblika’s executive committee members more actively in its work.

The NGO also needed help from its rank-and-file members, she said. Help needed ranged from expertise in areas such as the economy, science and education to more mundane tasks like ringing up NGO members.

Cremona said she would also like Repubblika to engage more directly with integrity institutions such as the office of the Ombudsman, parliamentary standards commissioner and National Audit Office.

The NGO, she revealed, has plans to create a “political observatory” focused on governance-related policy proposals.

“It’s hard to understand why parliament needs urgent reform or laws like the whistleblower act need to change. We’ve issued policy papers about some of these issue but we need to apply more pressure for the government and politicians to listen and take concrete action,” Cremona said.

She ended with a note of pride.

“It’s an honour to see this ‘ragtag bunch [erbgħa qtates] that we make up have an impact on the rule of law in our country. Together and one step at a time we will achieve a clean Malta,” Cremona said.