Today is the day when there is a changeover at the topmost position in Malta’s hierarchy.

The five-year term for George Vella as Malta’s President comes to an end today. Myriam Spiteri Debono will today be sworn-in as his replacement for the next five years.

The fourth of April, incidentally also the fourth month of the year, has become synonymous with the Office of the President.

Since Censu Tabone was inaugurated as President of the Republic on 4 April 1989, on this day every five years since then we had a President leaving the office to be substituted by a successor. Ugo Mifsud Bonnici took over in 1994, followed by Guido de Marco in 1999, Eddie Fenech Adami in 2004, George Abela in 2009, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca in 2014, George Vella in 2019 and, today, Myriam Spiteri Debono – all of them on 4 April.

We ran the risk that this tradition would not have been kept, as it was only last week that the two sides of the House of Representatives came to an agreement on who is to serve as Head of State. Following the 2020 changes to the Constitution, a two-thirds majority approval of a nomination is required in Parliament; given the attrition that exists between government and opposition, there were serious doubts as to whether they would have come to terms on the name of the new President.

The opposition made its intentions clear that it did not want anyone who served in the Cabinet of Joseph Muscat, tainted as it was with collective responsibility as determined by a public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The government did well to accept these terms, perhaps also to send out a signal that Robert Abela wants a clean break from his predecessor.

It chose Myriam Spiteri Debono who, although coming from the Labour camp was acceptable to the PN. She is considered as a woman of integrity, respect and moderation. The speech she delivered not so long ago in which she described Caruana Galizia’s “brutal and macabre” killing as having switched on the “warning lights”, and saying that “we need to redeem ourselves as a nation” were arguably among the toughest of stances taken by someone with a Labour background.

Spiteri Debono will today give her first address to the nation as the new President of the Republic. In the Maltese setting, the President is by and large a ceremonial figure, but one who carries great responsibilities, especially when the nation is passing through tough times. It is in these instances that the President is looked at the most as a role which needs to bring unity. Spiteri Debono must be at the ready because there will be times when her presence will be needed.

While welcoming Spiteri Debono as its new Head of State, the country today also bids farewell to George Vella. His term in office as President was not easy, given the pandemic and the crisis faced by both the government and the opposition during his five-year term. The way he tackled the signing of the IVF bill has drawn criticism too, while the constitutional reform that was promised did not materialise, with Vella saying in his last Republic Day speech that he was “prevented” from continuing “the process of convening a Convention because, despite all my best efforts, there was no willingness to agree on who should lead this Convention”.

Maybe Spiteri Debono will be more successful in this regard.