Our society battled an unprecedented pandemic in recent months. Many things we hold dear were no longer possible. We had to stop meeting our elderly parents. We had to stop sending our children to school. We had to stop events that are so much part of our culture: feasts, weddings, holy communions.

Like our forefathers who took refuge for months behind high walls or those who spent endless hours in underground shelters, we also had to live through what felt like a siege.

COVID-19 is the greatest test our young republic has faced. Many thought that caught by surprise we would falter and stumble. Yet here we are, the smallest EU nation but the one which has had the lowest mortality rate and pressure on intensive care. The EU economy which is the most exposed to trade and tourism, and yet the one which saw positive GDP growth in the first quarter and where the unemployment rate remains lower than the historical average.

These results were not by chance. As a nation we reacted rationally, with our minds focused on how to ensure that we would keep on the right track. We came together into one force. We became a team that sought to protect those most vulnerable, be them elderly in care homes or workers in firms that faced a total collapse in demand. We mobilised the formidable nest egg that our nation has built thanks to our past prosperity to guarantee our future prosperity.

Now that the medical emergency has rescinded, and that the economic shock seems to have halted, our energy needs to focus on the future. There have been many who have spoken of a new normal, others of a return to normality. In truth I believe what matters is which objectives we will set ourselves to achieve.

Over the last years, Labour administrations have had one key aim: achieving prosperity for all. When we joined the EU, we were told that soon we would reach the EU standard of living. However, our GDP per capita in 2012 was 84.5% of the EU average, unchanged from 84% in 2003. The proportion of those in severe material deprivation was 9%, up from 5%. The employment rate among women remained nearly a fifth less than the EU average.

Last year our GDP per capita reached the EU average for the first time, the employment rate among women, for the second year running, was higher than the EU average and the proportion of our population in severe material deprivation is half the EU average. Our nation’s priorities had started to change towards an enhanced quality of life, with more care towards the environment, a better work-life balance and richer creative and cultural spheres.

I believe these priorities remain key for our post-COVID-19 future. While the pandemic reminded us that taking the economy for granted is a mistake, we cannot allow it to change our vision. Now that we have built a strong economy, able to withstand even this greatest of shocks, we have to use optimally the prosperity it creates.

The economic regeneration plan published by Government gives an outline of things to come. It builds on the past economic formula of reducing operating costs for businesses and providing financial incentives for families. It targets job creation and focuses aid towards SMEs and working families with low incomes in order to continue striving towards income equality and poverty reduction.

However, maybe unnoticed, one finds initiatives that point towards a necessary reorientation.

The plan endorses the European Green Deal. It mentions the establishment of an Environmental, Social and Governance framework, which would assess the sustainability and ethical practices of companies. It launches the most vigorous investment in our capital infrastructure, with projects relating to the digital economy, life sciences and logistics.

The economy that would result from the enactment of these measures would be quite different from that of past years. It would be a green, digital economy that creates high quality jobs, with firms scrutinised not just for their financial performance but also for their broader impact.

It sounds like an economy I would like my daughter to be part of. An economy that still creates prosperity for all, but which also cares more about how prosperity is created and gives weight to all that we value.

I feel that in many ways COVID-19 brought us closer to our environment. It made us spend more time with our immediate family. It showed us the real potential of new technologies, enabling many of us to continue working and consuming but in a different way.

For me, this experience confirmed it is time we move to the next stage of our nation’s progress.

We defeated adversity together. If we stay together, we will build a better tomorrow.

Dr Lydia Abela is the wife of the Prime Minister