The inauguration of the presidency of Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, a few days after celebrating the 35th anniversary of Freedom Day, has given occasion for a reshuffle to Joseph Muscat’s Cabinet of ministers and parliamentary secretaries. This was the first Cabinet of this young Prime Minister who assumed office after the historic Labour Party victory at the polls on March 9, 2013.

This Cabinet reshuffle, apart from that of Coleiro Preca, includes the resignations of Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia, of the Parliamentary Secretary for the Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing, Franco Mercieca, both newly appointed last year, and of Labour veteran Karmenu Vella, the Minister for Tourism, who will now be nominated for the position of European Commissioner.

The departure of Vella is of especially symbolic significance because he is the last of the close collaborators of Dom Mintoff to leave the front line of Maltese politics and, furthermore, signals the closure of the post-Independence epoch, which, in effect, ended 10 years ago with Malta joining the EU on May 1, 2004.

Taking into consideration the scholarship available today, I feel that the post-colonialist era – the 40 years after Independence, 1964 to 2004 – may best be described as ‘populist’ in political jargon because the Maltese governments, although enjoying full sovereign rights as from September 21, 1964, had to find their way and re-order the institutional infrastructure left behind by the colonising power. The Maltese parliaments of this period had to create the republic and to dismantle the foreign military base, among other necessary reforms, for the country to have viable political institutions.

These historic changes however required a justifying cause as the over-riding principle of national unity could no longer be found in military force or Church influence – options available under foreign rule. This justifying overriding principle was found to be the popular majority rule and was inserted in the Constitution in 1987.

This principle was invoked in 2003 to enable the country to decide, by means of a referendum and a general election, on its relations with the European Union, enabling this country to partake of a global vision which only such a bloc can impart.