2005 was no year that simply passed without occasion. We have, as a nation, come out of a turbulent time – with a referendum, MEP elections and joining the European Union, it is easy to sometimes think that a year has simply come and gone.

Yet, this year, we have seen Malta at the fore of several events, such as hosting the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting, the Queen’s visit to Malta, as well as Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s visit to the United States.

There were also moments when the country was saddened… tragic murders and who could possibly forget those young men who died in a traffic accident in October or those poor young girls who died in Qormi. Our thoughts should be with the families of all these people who lost their lives during the past year.

We should also look at the way Malta has been able to push its agenda forward in Europe. Who could have imagined a time when we could lobby hard and “forced” other countries to help us with our problems. We have managed to make Europe accept that irregular immigration is not our problem alone but a collective one and of that, we should be proud.

But perhaps, the biggest change has been Malta’s mentality, the mentality of its people and our politics. There has been much change. The country is being made to realise that it must work hard to keep up with the standard of living we have set ourselves, the fact that a job is no longer guaranteed for life and even that we must reform our pension scheme. We have as a nation gone through a lot together this year. But perhaps, one of the most important breakthroughs has been the lessening dependence on political allegiance.

We have long been used to the fact that we can shop around at different supermarkets for better deals, but have in the past been too tied to our core political beliefs. So much so, that Maltese politics, unlike most of the world, are not known in terms of right or left but blue or red! We used to live according to our political credo and would not budge on the issue.

Finally, to a certain extent, we have progressed. And the best thing about it is that even the political parties, particularly the government, are pushing to be recognised not on their political agenda, but on what they have done and on how they are coping with this “brave new world” that we live in.

We hope that this continues, that we can, as a people, move away from a world of living according to what our politicians feed us. We hope that the people of Malta and Gozo widen their horizons and literally start to “live a little” and judge on what is being achieved.

It will be quite a while until Malta feels the full benefit of being a cosmopolital European nation that has benefited as have other success stories such as Ireland and Portugal.

But the bottom line is this… there is no gain without pain. If we want to sustain the lifestyle we have, we must continue to work hard, we cannot ignore the challenges ahead of us. Life has changed drastically, yet we have barely registered the fact. No one is to say that 2006 will be any easier than 2005 has been. We cannot predict the future, yet we can be certain that out nation’s resilience will again show through. TMID takes this opportunity to wish all readers health, wealth, happiness and prosperity in 2006.