Mr Anton Tabone

CV in Maltese 

Appointed the first Minister for Gozo Affairs in 1987. He was re-appointed in the same portfolio in 1992, a post he held up to 1996. Between 1998 and 2008 he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Anton Tabone was elected in the interests of the Nationalist Party in 1966 and sat in Parliament for over forty-two years, initially as a backbencher and successively as Shadow Minister, Minister, and eventually as a Speaker. He was also member of the Nationalist Party Executive Committee, and a member of the now defunct Gozo Civic Council where he chaired several committees of the said Council.

Whilst Minister for Gozo he promoted the regional aspect of the island in the national context and within the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) where Gozo became a Member of the said Conference.

As Speaker of the House, he promoted Malta’s initiative to establish a Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and the setting up of its Secretariat in Malta. He undertook with success the difficult transition of Malta’s Parliament from that of a non-Member State to a Member State when Malta joined the European Union in 2004.

Tabone helped put Gozo and the Gozitans’ interests to the fore with the result that nowadays the island’s dimension is being considered at the forefront of both the national policy as well as in the EU territorial dimension.

In 2008, the Membership of the National Order of Merit in the grade of Companion was conferred on Mr Anton Tabone and he was nominated to serve as Acting President of Malta from 2009 to 2012.