I had never been to Eddie Fenech Adami’s house in Birkirkara and at first was misled into thinking his house was the one near the police station with an imposing facade.

Instead, this belongs to another lawyer.

Eddie’s house is a far more modest one, next to the (empty) police booth, very similar to any other house in any town in Malta.

This is not just the house where he lived with his family, he told me, but also the house where he was born. His grandmother had a wine shop in one part of it and it was passed on to his father and then to him.

Eddie at 80 (his birthday is next Friday) gave an interview to a team from The Malta Independent on Sunday. He proved to be a model student with the cameraman and the photographer who invaded his house and spent a lot of time setting up their apparatus.

What are your thoughts now you are (almost) 80?

My life has always been a series of unexpected events. At 80 I can say I have lived a full life. I have always tried to do my duty in whatever role I have found myself in. I had no plan, but in all I did, I tried to serve the country to the best of my ability. I feel satisfied that I have succeeded to do so much.

How did you enter politics?

I can say I had no intention of entering politics. It was 1961 and I had just become a lawyer. One day, a man I knew, a carpenter, Carmelo Borg, told me that Victor Ragonesi (then PN Secretary General) had met the Birkirkara PN committee and asked them whether they could suggest a candidate. Mr Borg then mentioned my name.

I contested the 1962 election but was not elected, and the 1966 one and again was not elected. In 1969, on the death of George Caruana, who used to contest in Paola, I was co-opted to Parliament since he had been elected through a by-election.

Then you became leader of your party.

That was in 1977, but again, I became a candidate without anybody asking my leave. I always accepted what was going on around me.

Then in 1979 you had the inspiration to commit your party to seek membership of the EU.

The seven-year plan drawn up by the Mintoff government was timed to end in March 1979 and its last words were: “After March 1979, the future beckons.”

This led me to reflect that Dom Mintoff did not know where he was going and at the same time my party grew stronger in the belief that the future of Malta lay in the EU (or as it was known in those days, the EEC).

I always believed in my country and my party always worked for the greater good of the country.

In February 1979, when the PN executive committee committed the party to seek EEC membership, it based its belief on the fact that Malta is a European country and that Malta’s place could be nowhere than in Europe.

What were your feelings after you lost the 1996 elections? Were you tempted to give up politics?

I took the 1996 defeat in my stride. I offered my resignation but the party refused to accept it. An election defeat is part of the democratic process of a country.

But when I heard Alfred Sant speaking like he did in Birgu, I understood his government did not have a long life ahead of it. I told my party to prepare for a new election within months.

Then after the 1998 victory, it was full speed ahead to EU membership.

Malta’s place is in the EU. Malta’s earlier association agreement with the EEC under another PN government was always meant to lead to full membership.

We started seeking allies who could help us gain EU membership, especially the CDU from Germany who supported Malta’s bid to the full.

Not everyone in Malta was in favour of EU membership. Herbert Ganado, for instance, and his party held that EEC membership would be too onerous for Malta. So believed Mabel Strickland. And the Malta Labour Party was against membership on the terms of entry although they had been in favour of independence. They were sceptical that Malta could flourish as an EU member state.

Nevertheless, in the long campaign preceding the 2003 referendum (and subsequent election), I was always convinced the Yes vote would win.

The truth is I planned the referendum and the election a month later keeping the date when the accession treaty was to be signed in Athens and worked back from that date. (The signing was on 16 April 2003, the election was on 9 April and the referendum on 8 March).

Then, 10 years ago you left the premiership.

Yes, I had this fixed idea in my brain that I would stop being a prime minister on my 70th birthday.

I then became the President. In the Maltese context, the presidency is a prestigious post which enjoys a lot of respect but it in no way demands the hard work that being a prime minister entails, except that the President has a difficult role to play in specific circumstances when there is a crisis in the country.

It is the President who appoints the prime minister but in ordinary circumstances this is a straightforward choice when there are only two parties in Parliament and it is clear which one has won the election. But if there are, for instance, three parties, then the President may have a role to play.

What do you do now you are retired?

(Laughs) I am on call. I keep myself occupied. I have 10 grandchildren who in one way or another come here every day or keep me occupied. (While we were there, he was called to go collect one grandchild from school). The eldest is doing second year law at university and the youngest is just four years old.

How do you see your party today?

The party has elected a young person as its leader. The party is still strong in its organisation and grass roots: its structures are still very alive. It has proved that it has given a very important contribution to the history of the country and it still has a role to play in today’s very different circumstances. The new leader has ideas and is without prejudices: he is the right leader for this time.

In my time, there was a great divide in the country with a lot of aggressiveness. Today, we are living in normal times, with reciprocal respect. It is a much more relaxed Malta today.

What do you feel about the citizenship issue?

I have great reservations on this issue. Citizenship is built on a real link with the country. I do not agree it can be given to anybody except to those who have some link with the country.

It is true that my government ‘gave out a lot of citizenship certificates to people of Maltese descent living in Australia’. I visited Australia many times, beginning when I had just been elected party leader, and I was always told about this issue – that many people of Maltese descent were not allowed to claim double citizenship, so they had to drop the Maltese one. But we found a way of declaring that these people had never relinquished their Maltese citizenship and they thus could retain both.

You came to the fore in recent times when you argued against the introduction of divorce. Do you think Malta has changed?

Yes, Malta has indeed changed, and for the better. It is today more tolerant and open. Nevertheless, Malta is and will always remain a Christian country, a country where the Christian belief is important to understand Malta.

Many people have stopped going to church but they remain Christian in their basic orientation. I am speaking here of a Christian culture, rather than a Christian religion.

And now, what does the future beckon?

(He laughs). My future? I am an elderly person and live from day to day. I keep myself active by walking for at least 30 minutes every day. And I try to keep active in my family: they never allow me to get lazy as it is.