On the face of it, the new administration led by Lawrence Gonzi is a direct descendant of the one headed by Lawrence Gonzi up to 8 March, its legitimate heir and in continuity with it.

But that’s just on the face of things. In reality, there is far more change than continuity. It’s almost as if the election was won by a party other than the Nationalist Party. Under the guise of continuity, there is change. The remarkable thing is no one seems to have noticed, certainly not the Opposition in its present state of disarray, nor the media in general, nor the public at large.

The funny, or not so funny, thing is that through this most of the criticism leveled at the previous administration, so resisted by the government then which backed four-square the ministers under attack, is now being quietly, accepted and, more importantly, rectified.

Most of what is being done is being done by the simple means of a change of ministerial responsibility. It is clear, from the Prime Minister’s choice of ministers, or non-choice, that the ministers who were the focus of public, and Opposition, criticism were not re-appointed. Prime ministerial prerogative or not, isn’t this already an indication?

There is more, obviously.

Consider Minister Austin Gatt very clearly wading into the messes at ADT and MMA so much so that not only has he changed the boards but also has taken to ruling them by public directive. Apart from other investigations being undertaken at 360 degrees. And the two corporations were the ones most criticized by the Opposition in pre-election times.

The only continuity Dr Gatt has is with the Dockyards and Enemalta. He has ‘lost’ Air Malta which is now under Minister Tonio Fenech along with Malta Enterprise.

The other continuity is that of Minister Giovanna Debono but she and Dr Gatt are now the prime candidates for the next reshuffle by Dr Gonzi.

More. Minister John Dalli has taken over the ministry previously run by Dolores Cristina and by Louis Deguara and the change can already be felt. Minister Cristina has taken over the ministry from Louis Galea and part of that run by Francis Zammit Dimech and even her nuanced replies to the interview carried in today’s issue speaks volumes in terms of a different approach and policy guidelines.

More nuanced is the change from Tonio Borg to Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici at Home Affairs and from Michael Frendo to Tonio Borg at the Foreign Ministry.

Most of what is being done is being kept out of the public eye, which is why the impression is being given the government has not found its legs yet. The government cannot explain how right the pre-election criticism was, the messes it is uncovering, and what new policy guidelines the new ministers have for it would cause the whole country to revolt that what the Opposition used to say pre-8 March was all true, for it is.

It is also becoming clearer by the minute the new Cabinet is being kept under a short leash as Dr Gonzi learned to his cost that being loyal and trusting did not pay that much.

And it is also becoming clearer and clearer the previous government overshot by far its spending in the first three months of this year and has imperiled the country’s move to a Zero Deficit by 2010 and the government now finds itself, not for the first time in post-election periods, seriously without funds.

Then there is the situation at Mepa, which has been ‘taken away’ from George Pullicino and has come under direct rule by the Prime Minister. And MTA which has been taken away from a Tourism Ministry which has been done away with and is now sort of under the aegis of the Prime Minister as well.

This U-turn of sorts is the sort of policy switch with great risks that the Prime Minister has accustomed this country to.

On the one hand, as already considered, it opens the present government, and Dr Gonzi especially, to the charge that all (well, not really all, but that’s a different matter) that was being said during the election campaign was true then. The present government then had defended what it is now declaring by facts was indefensible (and not just JPO). By getting elected through its through-its-teeth denials the government is once again undermining its own credibility and its own election.

But at the same time, by taking the right decisions, by correcting what was going wrong, by doing what needs to be done, the government is doing the right thing and nothing but the right thing.

The government may delude itself into thinking that people will forget this U-turn, and how it defended what it now admits was wrong, but at the same time the government is leaning a lesson it did not learn in 2003 that just by emphasizing continuity and keeping the same teams it almost drove itself into Opposition and did not give the country the policy clarity the country needed after EU accession.

This time, things are different. The government must learn that hard and deep decisions, especially in the context of a very critical international economic situation, are best taken and taken well at the beginning of a government term.