It is already being made very clear by the prime minister that last year was not a bad one, considering all the hiccups that daily life induces.

However, he is making it equally clear that while the country coped quite well, there are more challenges ahead – in particular shaping up to adopt the euro as a national currency.

The target date for adoption is 1 January 2008, but one simply cannot just go gung-ho and forfeit all plans to achieve this one goal, no matter how important.

And this is where Dr Gonzi comes in. Unfortunately for the man, he is going to have to be the weighing scale that decides what needs to be done and when. We have heard murmurings that all is not as well as we hoped for in the convergence criteria, but we are confident that if the scenario is managed well, we will be right on track come the target date.

Obviously, with a small economy like ours, adjustments will have to be made as we go along. Malta has a unique problem in that any shudders that are caused, locally or internationally, have a knock on effect on our economy. In simple terms, we feel the pinch more than most other states. On the flipside, when we receive a cash injection, the benefits we get are felt more. The prime minister has gone on record time and time again saying that Malta is attracting record sums of direct foreign investment. Hopefully, this will hold true for 2007 so the country can further gear itself to euro adoption.

There are other issues which also need attention. One of the most important being pension reform. It is plain to see that something has to be done. Again, it's a pickle for those who have to sort it out because it is such a delicate matter and needs to be handled with kid gloves. But handled it must be or the repercussions could be crushing in the future.

In his message yesterday, President Edward Fenech Adami spoke of the benefits of harmony in Maltese politics and this could not hold more true in this issue. One understands that the Malta Labour Party might have different ideas to the government, but it is there on popular vote and has to tackle the situation. The government is trying to deal with the problem responsibly, and while the MLP is just to criticise constructively and offer its suggestions, one hopes that the pension reform process is not turned into a political, or worse yet, electoral issue.

We will, no doubt, also face more waves of immigration this year and Foreign Minister Michael Frendo will once again have his work cut out for him. Dr Frendo tried the softly-softly approach for aid from Europe, but it did not work. He did the best thing in the circumstances and blared Malta's clarion in the foreign media. Perhaps the country needs to learn a lesson here – sometimes we have to be firm and we have to stand our ground. The results were not as good as what the country hoped for, but aid has started and we need to ensure there are more contributors to patrols, more repatriation agreements and perhaps most importantly, assistance in housing asylum seekers on the arrival in Malta.

Two more points worth mentioning are the migration to Mater Dei Hospital as well as the international price of oil. The latter we have shown we can deal with, but we must remain vigilant to ensure that we do not get caught unawares when spikes in prices come around. The former is a bit more of a dodgy affair and although we can plan to the last meticulous detail, there will certainly be an element of playing the situation by ear. We shall see.