As it so happened, Malta's accession to the European Union in the Union's largest-ever enlargement coincided with the entry of the first member states that up to a few years ago were on the other side of the European divide, the other side of what Winston Churchill had described metaphorically as "the iron curtain", among the countries of the Warsaw Pact that were totally controlled by Soviet domination.
The accession of these countries to the EU - including the three Baltic states that had been absorbed in the Soviet Union itself - was the final nail in the coffin of Soviet communism, a phenomenon that had dominated European geopolitics for almost half a century ever since the end of World War II. From the Maltese point of view, it was also the final nail in another coffin - that of the Mintoffian foreign policy heritage that was based on the assumption that Soviet communism was here to stay.
In a notorious Mintoff reaction to the Nationalist Party's 1979 decision to work in favour of Malta seeking membership in what was then the European Community, the division in Europe prevailing at the time was described as tantamount to there being two "Europes" - the Europe of Cain and the Europe of Abel.
There was no doubt that in Mr Mintoff's mind the west - and therefore the European Community, considered by Mr Mintoff to be subservient to Nato, his bête noire - was the materialistic Cain while the east with its utopian dream inspired by real socialism was the idealistic Abel. The truth, of course, was much different, but the perception of political mirages as the real thing very often reduces truth to the realm of the irrelevant.
This division was the underlying premise of the Mintoffian "dream" - actually more of a hallucination - as can be seen by the definition and the subsequent consequences of Malta's neutrality as enshrined in our Constitution since 1987, a definition that is now undoubtedly anachronistic. In the difficult circumstances of those days, the PN opposition had emphasised its disagreement with the way the neutrality clause was worded and this for several reasons including the grounds that a Constitution should not include permanent references to temporary circumstances, but had voted in favour of the Bill amending the Constitution at the third reading as the import of that particular Bill went much beyond the short-sighted wording of the neutrality clause.
Irrespective of whether one agreed with it or not, Mr Mintoff's policy on the foreign front made sense only so long as the cold war persisted. That is why, saddled with this inheritance, he and his minuscule Front Maltin Inqumu as well as the Malta Labour Party today find themselves in a quandary.
Instead of admitting that they have to think anew about the real meaning and value of Malta's neutrality today, they keep on acting as if the cold war is not over, as if there are two superpowers vying to use Malta as a military base - as if the present is still the past.
The MLP cannot accept the idea that the European Union actually applies the principle of solidarity in practice between its different peoples; that behind the conscious push for the less developed regions and countries to reach the standard of levels and quality of life of the more advanced areas in the Union there is no "imperialistic" design.
This is borne out by the notion that the MLP's mission in the new reality in which Malta is a member of the European Union is to "defend" the interests of Malta and its workers. This is also the oft-stated mission of the MEPs that will be elected on the MLP ticket.
As Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi often points out, adopting a "defensive" attitude presupposes a danger from someone who is out to attack you and strive against your interests. Which means that the MLP still looks at the EU as if it were the "enemy"; a dangerous risk menacing our livelihood, a threat to our neutrality.
This negative stance is just an extension of the "Cain and Abel" syndrome. Mr Mintoff may today be completely alien to what goes on internally in the MLP, to its strategies and to its policies, but his passé ideas still dominate its psyche.
The new Malta calls for the MLP to shake off its past and start thinking afresh. Perhaps their newly established membership of the European Socialists (PES) will help them in their efforts towards this new direction.
The new chapter in Malta's history that began to unfold on May 1 must also include this development in Maltese politics if we are to make the utmost of its new European status.
Unfortunately, the speech delivered by Alfred Sant precisely on May 1 gave no indication that this is going to happen - for his political survival burdens unnecessarily the MLP with his failures.
Mr Falzon, a former minister, is a PN candidate for the European parliament elections.