In March, Labour will clock off its first year in government and in May electors will give an indication of how they feel in the third European Parliament elections since Malta joined the EU.

Nationalist leader Simon Busuttil will mark 12 months at the helm of a party left in tatters after the 2013 general election and people could possibly be asked to vote out spring hunting in a referendum.

On the government front, ministers would have settled and expected to start delivering on reforms, while by April Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has to choose a new President.

On the Opposition side, Dr Busuttil will be expected to exert even greater control over his party and continue the process of putting the PN back on a sound financial footing.

The government will have to appoint a European Commissioner in the summer, a move that might prompt a mini reshuffle if the candidate is a minister.

The country will celebrate 50 years of independence, 40 years as a republic, 35 years since the departure of the last British forces and the 10th anniversary of EU membership.

With all this happening, 2014 is unlikely to let up on the political tempo that characterised the past two years and in, columnist Lino Spiteri’s words, it will “pit the two national leaders against each other like never before”.

Writing today (see page 20), Mr Spiteri argues that Dr Muscat will have to come to terms with the fact that governing and pleasing the electorate “are not necessarily complementary tasks” while Dr Busuttil will have the chance to shed “the rowdiest boy” image and prove he could become “a good prefect”.

Asked to spell out the challenges facing their respective parties, first-time MPs Deborah Schembri, PL, and Claudio Grech, PN, outline their thoughts on what promises to be another politically charged year.

Deborah Schembri, PL

"The government’s principle challenge remains the implementation of its electoral programme.

Reducing water and electricity bills in March and the eventual conversion to a gas-fired power station are important commitments and while there has been progress on this front, the momentum should be maintained.

Justice reform is another challenge and now that we have a blueprint with recommendations, people, rightly so, expect change to start happening. This is a challenge because as a lawyer I know the difficulty of changing things in court.

Another major challenge for the government is public transport. The repercussions of getting this right will not only benefit commuters but all of society.

Immigration, within the EU context, will also be a challenge this year as the European Commission will be expected to deliver on the action plan approved by the heads of government summit in December.

On civil rights the government has picked up a good rhythm and achieved so much in so little time that people’s expectations have been raised.

This is good but there is still much to do, such as introducing a law to regulate cohabitation and strengthening legal provisions against domestic violence.

The European Parliament election in May will be a political test for Labour. Any party in government is expected to lose votes because not all of people’s expectations can be met – some people have legitimate expectations but others have unjustified demands that can create injustices – but I believe Labour should do well.

It is very probable that the two major parties will get three seats each – Labour won four seats and the PN’s two last time around – not because of Labour’s lost votes but because it is a mathematical probability.

The quota last time around was based on five elected MEPs and the sixth seat was awarded later.

This time around the quota will be based on six elected MEPs. Had the quota five years ago been worked on six elected MEPs, the sixth seat could have gone either way.

But an underlying political challenge for the government is to communicate better with the people the work it is doing.

Unfortunately, communication does not always match the hard work done by ministers."

Claudio Grech, PN

"The Nationalist Party has to build on the invaluable groundwork covered in 2013.

Despite having gone through a complete leadership change and a very difficult electoral result, in a few months the parliamentary group has managed to nurture a very strong degree of cohesion and mutual collaboration driven by structured policy objectives rather than populist thinking.

In this context, the major task facing the Opposition will be to review its policy basis and update its political framework with a view of building our parliamentary engagements on a set of forward-looking priorities for our society and economy.

Equally, in 2014, I feel that while steadily escalating our scrutiny efforts, we need to steer away carefully from falling into the traps of populism and negative politics.

We need to instil a mentality in which we aspire to be a viable alternative to the government out of our own merits and not due to the consistent flaws of this administration.

From a party standpoint, the major challenge will be to sustain the internal restructuring process both on the financial and management fronts.

An extraordinary amount of work has been delivered in the last few months and it will now be crucial to maintain the pace in 2014 to ensure the PN is efficiently organised to fulfil its duties effectively. This is not something the party administration can do on its own and it will certainly need all hands on deck, foremost those of all MPs.

Obviously the first test will be the MEP elections, a timely electoral appointment that will indicate the general electoral mood.

But the most important task ahead is to drive our politics closer to the people, not being afraid of spelling out what we stand for, while keeping constantly in mind the people’s electoral message to the PN.

To be honest, I don’t see these as challenges: I look at them more as exciting opportunities which will serve as catalysts to fulfil our obligation as an Opposition loyal to the Constitution."