Eddie Fenech Adami’s term of office as President of the Republic has come to an end. Tomorrow, George Abela will take the oath as his successor in a special parliamentary session.

Dr Fenech Adami’s eventful public life comes to an end too. He has already declared that his only responsibilities, from now onwards, will be to look after his grandchildren and, of course, to enjoy his free time reading.

Dr Fenech Adami deserves to rest after serving his country for so long. Forty years in public life are no joke. And what years they were!

He was co-opted to Parliament in 1969, and continued to be elected in all successive elections. His popularity was evident even before he became party leader, as he obtained the highest number of votes after Dom Mintoff and George Borg Olivier – then Prime Minister and Opposition Leader respectively – in the 1976 election.

Dr Fenech Adami did not have to wait long to take over the reins of the Nationalist Party. Dr Borg Olivier resigned in 1977 and the Birkirkara lawyer, who had also served as president of the party’s general and administrative councils, became PN and Opposition Leader.

It was not an easy time for Malta, and two years later, on 15 October 1979, his residence was attacked by Labour supporters in what became known as Black Monday. Already envisaging Malta as a member of the European Union, the PN remained in opposition after the 1981 election in spite of obtaining more votes, but fewer seats, than the Labour Party.

There followed five long years of violence during which Dr Fenech Adami’s leadership skills emerged to avoid an ever harsher confrontation. Constitutional changes late in the legislature enabled the PN to win the 1987 election, with Dr Fenech Adami becoming Prime Minister for the first time.

The road towards European Union membership, which remains Dr Fenech Adami’s largest accomplishment as a politician, started in 1990, was interrupted in the 22 months of a Labour government between 1996 and 1998, and re-started to culminate in the 2003 referendum after a long battle against Labour’s partnership idea.

Dr Fenech Adami resigned from Prime Minister and PN leader, but was appointed President on 4 April, 2004, and was therefore Head of State when Malta officially joined the EU on 1 May of the same year.

His move from Prime Minister to President was controversial, but Dr Fenech Adami was able to rise above politics during his five-year term, earning praise from the Labour quarters too. The fact that, last Wednesday, the House of Representatives unanimously approved a motion thanking him for the services rendered shows how even Labour appreciated his work during the past five years. Moreover, he was able to take the role of the presidency closer to the people, and he will be remembered for starting what are known as official presidential visits to various localities.

Dr Fenech Adami was the most suitable leader the PN needed when it was internally passing through tumultuous times, and was the most suitable Opposition Leader when the country was on the brink of chaos. He was also the most suitable Prime Minister at a time when Malta needed to lift itself up.

His rationality, calm and resilience enabled him to lead the party to victory against all odds, and from 1987 onwards transform the country into the modern state that it is today.

He was also a man of vision, as even in the most difficult times of the early 1980s, his idea of taking Malta into the EU was already formed in his mind. It took him 20 more years to achieve this goal, but achieve it he did, and the history books will look back at Dr Fenech Adami as the man who lifted Malta out of the dark into the light of European membership.

Now that his public life is over, Dr Fenech Adami deserves the whole country’s gratitude for the sterling work he carried out all through this time.

The Malta Independent wishes him years of peace and serenity with the family he loves so much.