Looking back on 2022, history was made for Malta in the European Parliament. There were choppy waters but there is good reason to believe it is brighter over the horizon looking into 2023.

It was bittersweet. 2022 opened somewhat tragically with the passing of a good friend and colleague. David Sassoli hailed from the opposition. But he commanded no less than my full respect for his exemplary commitment to his function, to his country and to Europe.

Working with him in the Bureau of the European Parliament is a time I continue to cherish.

It was a poignant time mitigated by Roberta Metsola’s stunning election into the presidency. Malta should be proud to have one of its own lead and shape Europe. Two decades ago, we made the argument that Malta’s voice will not be lost among continental giants.

Two decades later, we were proven right again – and how.

Metsola’s leadership has been far from plain sailing. At the time, we were returning to work from a difficult Christmas curtailed by pandemic restrictions and an inability to be with loved ones as freely as we were able to now. Vladimir Putin’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine came at a sensitive time when we were only barely recovering from the pandemic.

This proved to be an arduous and enduring war of attrition, whose consequences extend beyond Ukraine’s cities. Amid the chaos, Roberta was the first foreign leader to visit Kyiv.

Meanwhile, policymakers contended with the other, larger, crisis. Climate change has never been higher on the agenda. And I am proud to say that, in one year, we registered impeccable progress on the Social Climate Fund. In the final working days of 2022, I was joined by colleagues from across the political spectrum to reach an agreement on a decisive part of the EU’s most ambitious climate policy package.

We achieved a significant consensus on a swathe of market-based solutions, checks and balances to bring down emissions and to do so in a socially fair way. In fact, the Social Climate Fund will do just this. Together with my colleague, Esther de Lange, I secured a provisional agreement for a €86.7 billion fund that will direct revenues from climate measures back to the citizens who need them the most.

After many months of negotiations both with MEPs in the parliament and with member states, we have a Social Climate Fund that is more effective, that delivers benefits faster and that secures a better deal for the people of Malta and Gozo.

This will be instrumental in making families and small businesses more resilient to climate change and less reliant on fossil fuels. We will do this by sponsoring investments in solar panels, in better insulation, in more efficient appliances and in cleaner alternatives for transport – all of which will increase energy efficiency, reducing consumption, emissions and bringing down rising energy costs for citizens.

In 2023, we will have the final push towards making the Social Climate Fund a reality.

There is still an impunity problem that is holding Malta back- David Casa

On a different social policy note, Malta implemented the work life balance directive,  which I had negotiated just before the last elections. Families who are welcoming children are benefitting from a huge leap forward in parental benefits. Fathers now enjoy 10 days of paid paternal leave and can be more involved domestically thanks to new arrangements that promote gender equality.

What is a hugely beneficial step for Maltese working families was unfortunately muted by a flawed transposition. So, I am thankful to the Nationalist parliamentary group for their efforts over the summer towards ensuring that the benefits of the work life balance directive are better delivered.

In 2023, I look forward to building on the momentum and the hard work of the past year. As far as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine go, we are not out of the woods. But we will continue to be sensitive to the cost of living crisis and taking care to always put the interests of citizens first.

In doing all this, Malta cannot afford to drop the ball on corruption. Citizens are being made to pay the bill for the pandemic. It is unfair they have to foot the corruption bill as well.

One lesson from Russia’s war in Ukraine is that democracy should never be taken for granted. That is why we will continue to fight for journalists and their protection. This year, after years of campaigning for them, I welcomed historic efforts to protect journalists from vexatious litigation and to improve the state of the independent press across Europe. These are formidable steps toward ensuring that journalists can do their job safely.

On the world stage, the Maltese government has a long way to go to prove that it has improved on the failures identified after the rule of law crisis. In 2022, the European Parliament remembered the memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia. But it admonished Robert Abela’s administration for failing to prosecute corruption and deliver justice.

There is still an impunity problem that is holding Malta back. If the Maltese government should pick a New Year’s resolution, let it be this.