Campaigning is over. Malta must now focus on governability

As the country waits for votes to be counted, one important reality should begin to settle in. Campaigning is over and governing now begins.

Elections matter because they give legitimacy, direction, and a mandate. But once ballots are cast, politics must move from persuasion to execution. The harder question is no longer who wins. It is whether Malta is structurally organised to govern effectively in a world that is becoming more complex, interconnected, and demanding.

For too long, much of political debate has centred around personalities, promises, and short-term priorities. Yet one of the least discussed but most important issues in national governance is whether the architecture of the state itself is fit for purpose.

If Malta is serious about Vision 2050, about resilience, productivity, quality of life, sustainability, and trust, then we need to ask a more institutional question: Do our ministries, portfolios, and governing structures reflect the realities of the future, or the habits of the past?

Many of today’s national challenges no longer fit neatly into traditional ministerial silos. Housing is not simply a planning issue. It is linked to affordability, demographics, infrastructure, urban regeneration, social cohesion, and long-term wellbeing. Tourism is not only about arrivals. It sits at the intersection of national branding, culture, heritage, environmental carrying capacity, transport, and economic value creation. Productivity is no longer just an economic indicator. It depends on skills, research, digitalisation, AI, enterprise, exports, labour quality, and competitiveness. Climate resilience affects agriculture, energy security, water, construction, public health, and national preparedness.

Yet governments often continue to operate through fragmented departments, each functioning vertically, while national challenges increasingly demand horizontal coordination.

This is where a more mission-oriented cabinet structure deserves serious consideration.

Aligning ministries to national missions

A future-facing government should still preserve traditional ministries. Ministers must remain politically accountable, own executive portfolios, and drive policy. But the structure of those ministries should be sharper, more coherent, and better aligned to national missions.

Take health. Rather than viewing health narrowly through hospitals and clinical care, Malta should think in terms of a broader ministry for health, wellbeing and active living, integrating preventive health, mental health, nutrition, sports, digital health, and ageing. In an ageing society increasingly burdened by chronic disease, wellbeing itself must become part of economic and social policy.

Similarly, mobility should be treated as an integrated competitiveness function. A ministry for smart mobility, infrastructure and connectivity would go beyond roads and public works. It would unify public transport, major infrastructure, logistics, aviation, ports, maritime connectivity, and future transit systems under one strategic pillar. In a small island state, mobility is fundamentally linked to productivity and liveability.

Economic transformation also requires a clearer division of responsibility. A ministry for economy, enterprise, and investment should anchor industrial strategy, exports, SMEs, productivity, investment attraction, and competitiveness. Alongside this, a distinct ministry for education, skills, research and employment should connect schools, higher education, vocational training, labour market readiness, research, and lifelong learning. Too often, education policy and economic policy are discussed separately, when in reality they are deeply interconnected.

Digital transformation should also no longer be treated as a sub-function. A dedicated ministry for digitalisation, AI and public innovation could help drive GovTech, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, digital state reform, and public sector transformation. As governments become increasingly data-driven, digital capability becomes core state infrastructure.

On the social front, portfolios should reflect social complexity. A ministry for housing, planning and urban regeneration could better integrate affordability, planning reform, construction quality, and liveability. Alongside it, a ministry for social policy, families and inclusion could focus on children, ageing, disability, poverty, inclusion, and demographic resilience. In a country where community cohesion matters deeply, social policy cannot remain fragmented.

Equally important is environmental and resilience governance. A ministry for energy, climate and environment should anchor decarbonisation, renewables, biodiversity, circularity, and environmental stewardship. Meanwhile, a ministry for agriculture, fisheries, food security and blue economy reflects Malta’s strategic exposure to food resilience, water pressures, maritime opportunity, and sustainability.

Given the importance of quality tourism, heritage, place branding, and identity, a dedicated ministry for tourism, culture, heritage and national identity would be highly strategic. Tourism can no longer be measured purely by volume. It must increasingly be tied to quality, sustainability, cultural value, and national competitiveness. A ministry for Gozo and regional development, alongside a junior minister for local councils, would reflect a needed shift toward stronger decentralisation, regional planning, and more balanced place-based development.

Institutional trust must also be reflected structurally. A ministry for justice and constitutional affairs, a ministry for good governance, public administration and ethics, and a ministry for home affairs, security and civil protection would send a stronger message that trust, institutional performance, transparency, migration, resilience, and administrative excellence are central to governability.

Foreign affairs must also be strategically strengthened.

Malta’s external positioning cannot be reduced to diplomacy alone. A strong ministry for foreign affairs, Europe, trade and international partnerships should integrate foreign policy with trade diplomacy, geopolitical positioning, economic partnerships, and international competitiveness.

Within this, Malta should explicitly create a junior minister for Africa and the Mediterranean. This would be highly strategic. Malta sits naturally between Europe, North Africa, and the wider Mediterranean basin. Its geographic advantage should translate into institutional focus. Africa is one of the world’s most important long-term growth regions. The Mediterranean remains central to trade, migration, security, energy, climate, and geopolitical stability. A dedicated junior minister could strengthen trade corridors, diplomatic relationships, development partnerships, investment opportunities, maritime cooperation, and Malta’s role as a regional bridge between Europe and Africa.

Evolution at the OPM

At the centre of this architecture, however, the prime minister’s office must evolve.

If Vision 2050 is to mean anything beyond rhetoric, implementation must be anchored at the centre of government. A dedicated minister within the Office of the Prime Minister for Vision 2050, strategic delivery and reform could serve as the cross-government steward of execution, ensuring alignment, accountability, and long-term policy coherence.

Supporting this, technocratic prime ministerial delegates for each national mission could oversee horizontal delivery across ministries. These would not replace ministers, but act as thematic specialists and mission coordinators bridging silos and improving execution.

A stronger centre of government should also be supported by a Future Readiness Council and a Commissioner for Future Generations. The Future Readiness Council would bring together independent expertise across economics, technology, climate, health, demographics, security, and geopolitics to help government think beyond electoral cycles and anticipate long-term risks and opportunities. Alongside this, the already-existing Commissioner for Future Generations  should be strengthened and would help institutionalise intergenerational thinking by ensuring that major policy decisions are assessed not only for immediate political or fiscal impact, but also for their long-term consequences on sustainability, debt, resilience, wellbeing, and the quality of life of future generations. If Malta is serious about Vision 2050, then foresight must become part of governance.

This is not about creating more government. It is about creating better government. That conversation naturally brings us to another difficult but necessary issue: Political capacity.

Malta also needs a mature, non-partisan discussion on the remuneration and professional structure of ministers and parliamentarians. If we expect ministers to lead complex portfolios involving national security, billion-euro sectors, structural reforms, and international obligations, remuneration should reflect responsibility, accountability, and the need to attract experienced people into public service.

This is not an argument for privilege. It is an argument for competence.

At the same time, remuneration reform must sit within broader institutional reform. A smaller and more effective parliamentary structure, stronger committee systems, clearer portfolio accountability, and a long-term move toward a more professional full-time legislature deserve serious national debate.

Ultimately, governability is about state capacity.

As votes are counted, political narratives will dominate headlines. But beneath victory or defeat lies a more important challenge. Malta must begin focusing not only on electoral outcomes, but on whether the architecture of government is truly designed for the complexity of the decades ahead.

Campaigning is over. Now comes the more serious work, governability.