Valletta’s majestic bastions, built by the Knights so that the city would always emerge victorious in any armed confrontation, have proved their worth in a battleground of a different nature.

The capital city’s vice-mayor, Joseph Spiteri, has been elected to the prestigious post of president of the European Walled Towns (ETW) international association, in what was a tightly fought contest.

The ETW’s aim is to “treasure, maintain and safeguard” historic walled towns all over Europe – its membership spans 100 walled towns across 20 countries.

Valletta has been active in the association since 1996 but this is the first time that a Maltese town’s representative has taken over the presidency.

The members voted for their preferred candidate and Mr Spiteri emerged the winner against the representative of Debosch, a walled city in Holland, which was seeking re-election for a second term.

“The competition was very tight,” said Mr Spiteri, explaining that the first round of voting ended up in a tie.

All the Maltese walled towns, members of the EWT – Mdina, Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Victoria – then joined forces and lobbied to bat off the usual neighbourly voting. “It was a case of strength in unity,” said Vittoriosa mayor John Boxall. “But it was no easy contest – you should have been there to feel the tension,” he said.

In the end Valletta emerged victorious and will hold the presidency for the next three years.

Mr Spiteri said that as the ETW president he will be doing his best to improve the association’s administration.

Valletta will also be tapping into EU funds for the benefit of all members of the association.

Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli beamed about the perfect timing of this presidency.

“In 2018, Valletta will be cultural city of Europe so we will be using the ETW title to increase the European dimension,” he said.