Newly-appointed Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo says that he feels like he was being separated from himself.

After years of shadowing the education ministry and having served as education minister in three legislatures – 1996-1998, 2013-2017, and 2017-2020 – he has now been moved to the less familiar foreign affairs ministry by new Prime Minister Robert Abela.

Writing on Facebook, Bartolo said that today will be a day of huge emotions. “It’s like being happy for a new beginning and sad because a dear person has died. It’s like being separated from myself,” he wrote.

He thanked all those who helped him during his time as education and employment minister.

Bartolo is now the third most senior minister after Abela and deputy PM Chris Fearne