[WATCH] MaltaToday's Year in Review: 2022

Only one year ago, preparations were underway to start vaccinating children during the Christmas holidays, while booster shots were being offered to adults.

Details of the exit strategy would be given by Health Minister Chris Fearne at the start of February, promising a return to normality by May.

But what started as a year full of promise and hope, soon turned sour by the end of February when Russia embarked on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A few days earlier, Robert Abela called an election to be held 26th March. He managed to get elected on his own steam with a super-majority, meaning he is no longer hostage to his predecessor's legacy.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party remains restricted to a conservative core of voters. The party may have rediscovered a sense of unity and purpose in opposing a timid reform of abortion laws, but this stance may further alienate key demographics like the tertiary educated and younger voters. 

Key stories played out in court too. The Degiorgio brothers were jailed for 40 years over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Daren Debono 'it-Topo' struck a plea deal with the Attorney General over his involvement in the HSBC heist more than a decade ago, only to dishonour the deal by refusing to testify against Vincent Muscat (il-Koħħu). 

And who can forget the women whose names dominated the headlines throughout the year. Paulina Dembska was killed on 2 January by Abner Aquilina, who stands charged with her murder. Rita Ellul was killed by her partner, who spontaneously confessed to killing her before entering the interrogation room. Bernice Cassar was shot dead by her husband as she drove to work in November. He stands charged with wilful femicide.

Abortion even made it to the parliamentary agenda this year after Malta was cast in the international spotlight over its draconian anti-abortion law. The tone for the abortion debate in 2022 was set early when Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola signed the Simone Veil Pact just after becoming European parliament president.

Everything then came to a head in June. Andrea Prudente, an American tourist in Malta, suffered a premature rupturing of her waters at 16 weeks of pregnancy. Although the foetus had no chance of survival, doctors at Mater Dei Hospital refused to terminate the pregnany, leaving Prudente at risk of developing sepsis or haemorrhaging.

This put Malta under intense scrutiny from international bodies, exposing the blanket ban on abortion as cruel and inhumane. This case prompted another judicial protest to be filed by 135 doctors calling for changes to Malta’s strict anti-abortion law.

If recent years are anything to go by, the feminist voice of activists will not quiet down. Women’s rights activists took to the streets repeatedly over 2022, and without fail, whether they were protesting femicide, domestic violence, inaccess to healthcare or gender inequality.  

A handful of activists and medical professionals had already been speaking out on the abortion debate. Now hundreds of women are sharing the stories on abortion and domestic violence in what promises to be an important frontier as Malta heads into 2023.

On the sports front, Hamrun Spartans became the first Maltese team to be one round away from the group stages of a European competition after an impressive run. Female athletes also sparkled in 2022. Katrina Esposito earned the bronze medal in judo at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, while Tenishia Thornton took gold in weightlifting at the IWF Youth World Championships, and Tennis duo Francesca Curmi and Elaine Genovese won a silver medal at the Mediterranean Games.