Joseph Muscat made a wise move by appointing all but two of the elected PL MPs to Cabinet - Silvio Grixti and Alex Muscat - in what is obviously a manoeuvre to eliminate any chances of future dissent within his ranks.

But political cunning aside, let us quickly go over the appointments.

The PM has acknowledged that the financial services sector is vital to our economy and something must be done to fix its reputation. The decision to appoint a Parliamentary Secretary (Silvio Schembri) specifically for this sector is the obvious thing to do. The PM has also taken under his wing important reforms, such as those on recreational marijuana and the regularization of prostitution and has done well to appoint a young PS (Julia Farrugia Portelli) to oversee these reforms. 

Owen Bonnici has been retained as Justice and Culture minister. While he has been criticized over the appointment of former PL officials to the bench he has done quite well in the sector, improving the overall efficiency of the courts. It was a wise move to keep him in place. 

Michael Falzon has been made Minister for the Family, Children's Rights and Social Solidarity. That means that he is responsible for social housing. Given his involvement in the Gaffarena property transfer scandal, this might not be the best choice of portfolio for him.

Evarist Bartolo has been retained as education minister. While he did a decent job the last time round, he was under fire over a corruption scandal involving a former canvasser who Bartolo had appointed to the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools. Perhaps the PM should have given Bartolo an unrelated portfolio.

With the responsibilities handed to her in 2013 fulfilled, Helena Dalli has now been given the EU Affairs and Equality portfolio. Like Muscat, Dalli is a doer and a well-liked minister. She will surely excel in this new role as well.

Jose Herrera has been retained as environment minister. Joseph Muscat's government is not loved by the environmental lobby, but Herrera, with his calm demeanor and his moderate political approach, is the right man to bridge that gap. The fact that the PS for animal welfare, Clint Camilleri, is a hunter does not help this cause.

Ian Borg remains one of the most popular Labour figureheads. From a media point of view his last portfolio (EU funds) was not very exciting, but this young and energetic man could excel in his new portfolio. He has been entrusted with the Transport, Infrastructure and Capital projects. With the PL pledge to rebuild all Maltese roads in the seven years his work is cut out for him.

Edward Scicluna, the tried and tested finance minister, has retained his post. To be fair there is no one as qualified as he is in matters of finance in the entire Labour parliamentary group. He was the people's favourite minister in a recent TMI poll.

Michael Farrugia replaces Carmelo Abela as home affairs and national security minister. The calm and soft-spoken Farrugia may not look as the ideal person to lead the country's troops and cops but he has achieved good results in his previous role. He now faces a difficult task of restoring public trust in the police force. Maybe he will persuade the PM to appoint a new police commissioner. Who knows?

Abela is now in charge of foreign affairs, taking over from veteran George Vella. Somehow this feels like the natural next step for him.

Chris Cardona has retained the Economy and Investment ministry, which was no surprise, and Chris Fearne has held on to the health portfolio. Fearne performed extremely well in the general election, a testament to the achievements made in the health sector under his watch.

Joe Mizzi is now in charge of energy and water management. This fiery character is a mover and a doer and likes to get his hands dirty. He will definitely get things done with regard to the pipeline project.

Justyne Caruana's appointment as Gozo Minister was surprising in the sense that she obtained far fewer votes than Refalo. But with all the controversies her predecessor was involved in it made sense to bring some change in leadership on our sister island. Caruana is young and well-liked, and will hopefully rise above the special kind of partisan politics that exists on the island of Calypso.

Last but definitely not least there is Konrad Mizzi's appointment as tourism minister, in charge of Air Malta. After Panama Papers and the leaked FIAU reports any role given to Mizzi would have been criticized. We feel that Mizzi should not even be in the PL parliamentary group, let alone Cabinet. Placing him in a situation where he will once again be involved in multi-million euro deals does not feel right.

Overall the new cabinet looks good - it combines the experience of old hands with the energy of young newcomers, and will, like the one before it, take the country forward.

It is a pity that the presence of Keith Schembri, who has unsurprisingly been retained as the OPM Chief of Staff, and Konrad Mizzi, will cast a long shadow over this very competent group of people.