There is one factor that emerged from the Cabinet of ministers and parliamentary secretaries chosen by Prime Minister Robert Abela – continuity.

When he sat down with his advisors in Castille to compile his line-up, he had a few decisions to make – how to replace two ministers who were not elected, and how to replace two ministers who, although they had won a seat in Parliament, had embarrassed his government in the last legislature and so needed to be left out.

Once he worked out how to go about doing this, the rest of his work was easy, as all he had to do was rename a few ministries, shift a few more responsibilities here and there, and the mission was completed.

The ministers who were not elected, Evarist Bartolo and Jose Herrera, were replaced by Ian Borg and Owen Bonnici, both of whom were elected from two districts.

The choice of Borg as Foreign Minister was somewhat a surprise, as his best characteristic is certainly not diplomacy, of which so much is needed in his delicate post. Bonnici returns to his origins as Culture Minister after spending the last months of the past legislature in a ministry that, to be frank, remains as one of the least understood portfolios ever.

So now Borg needed to be replaced as Infrastructure Minister, and his super portfolio was passed on to Aaron Farrugia, who has gone to the opposite side of his previous post, which was environment. What is hoped is that his years as Environment Minister will give Farrugia the balance needed when it comes to taking decisions on mega-projects. Maybe, with Farrugia, fewer trees will be chopped than what happened in the last five years.

The responsibility for the environment was passed on to Miriam Dalli, who already had a mega ministry to take care of, and who now has an even bigger task. Abela has shown great confidence in her capabilities, because hers is certainly no easy feat.

Having sorted out this, Abela set on to find a replacement for the two ministers he no longer wanted in his line-up – Edward Zammit Lewis, who embarrassed his party with his Gahan comments and Whatsapp exchanges with the man accused of being a mastermind in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and Carmelo Abela, who had been caught in breach of ethics and was only saved by the Speaker’s abstention, and who was questioned over an HSBC heist, a connection which Abela continues to deny.

Justice was moved from Zammit Lewis to newcomer Jonathan Attard, while Carmelo Abela’s responsibilities in what was known as a ministry without portfolio were passed on to others.

Another former minister, Michael Farrugia, lost his place, but he is being touted to replace Anglu Farrugia as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Where continuity was discarded was in the appointment of parliamentary secretaries and, here, Abela wanted to give a chance to newly elected candidates (Andy Ellul was co-opted for the last few months, but had not been in Parliament on his own steam).

Except for the promotion of Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, none of the former parliamentary secretaries were confirmed. Of the lot, what stands out is the omission of Alex Muscat, who was responsible for citizenship, or as we all know it Labour’s passport scheme. This may be a sign that Labour is considering doing away with it, as has been recommended by the European Union.

Abela has said that other parliamentary secretaries will be appointed when casual elections and the gender-mechanism process to have more women in Parliament is completed. As he did in the appointments made on Wednesday, Abela should take into consideration the mishaps of the last legislature before finalising his team.

Other than those mentioned above, the rest of the ministerial appointments made last Wednesday by Abela were a confirmation of the ministers he had in his first two years as prime minister, although some changes were made to the names of the ministries.

The message that Abela wanted to give is that he wanted his new government to work on what was built since he took over the reins of the country in January 2020. That he kept most ministers in the place they already occupied is a strong indication that he is happy with their performance. Had he changed more, it could have been interpreted as a vote of no confidence in their performance.

The only changes he made were “forced” by the non-election of the incumbent ministers or because Abela wanted to indicate that he will not tolerate situations that are certainly not helpful to the image he wants his Cabinet to have.

This is a good sign. But Abela will only confirm his good intentions if, when faced with similar situations in the next five years, he shows the same firmness.