They haven't stopped have they? The interminable war of words and soap opera-like sub-plots generated by the Budget, that is.

We've been regaled with portrait-size pictures of beaming couples enthusing about the Budget bounty that came their way and read about a typical so-called student's enthusiasm for the government's vision. We've tried hard to feel upset when the Broadcasting Authority illogically banned the Bondiplus edition on the Budget just because Charles Mangion did a runner on him. Then there was Alfred Sant doing his "blitzed but not beaten" act and the Prime Minister trying to shame him by referring to the "Too little, too late" posters.

It's degenerated to such a petty, tit-for-tat level that I'm not surprised nearly everybody I know has seized upon the revised tax bands and children's allowance happily, and then chucked out the papers with their endless Budget post-mortems. In doing so, however, they might have missed an interview with Pippo Psaila who will be a candidate for the Nationalist Party in the forthcoming election.

When quizzed about his views on divorce and the granting of more rights for cohabiting couples, Mr Psaila said that he disagrees with both. He thinks that both proposals are not in keeping with the religious sentiments of the Maltese.

Let's assume that this is true and that the thousands of Maltese living with partners who are not their spouses are a figment of statisticians' imagination. Then let's examine his statement in the light of the Nationalist Party position on the matter. Flip through a pile of past PN manifestos and you'll see that Mr Psaila is decidedly off-message in this area. For though divorce is verboten for the Nationalists, granting rights to cohabiting partners had been slipped into their 'To do' list back in 1998.

I find it very hard to overcome my suspicion that this contradictory stance has nothing to do with religious conviction and everything to do with political expediency. It is a transparent attempt to appease both the conservative blue-rinse ladies who are considered to be the Nationalist core voters, and the other demographic cohort consisting of separated people starting a new relationship.

On one hand, the government is telling us that it won't allow people who are legally separated to obtain a divorce decree and remarry. That would be disruptive and bad for Maltese society, the Prime Minister says. However the current administration is not averse to legalising a situation where two people shack up together. If you can't see the contradiction inherent in that position, you need to take off the blue-tinted spectacles recently acquired from the PN headquarters.

Granting legal recognition to cohabitation as an institution effectively means that you've created what is known as marriage-lite: people who can't or won't commit themselves to a relationship will enjoy much of the benefits afforded to married couples. So they may be entitled to claim maintenance, co-own property and perhaps even pension rights.

Those who agree with such a proposal will claim that this is necessary for the protection of the cohabiting parties and their children. However, there is no need for new laws for such rights to be safeguarded. At present, unmarried partners may co-own property and name each other as beneficiaries in their wills. The obligation to provide maintenance for children already exists. If everything had to go belly-up and the partners split, either one could claim compensation for services rendered during the course of the relationship. So there is no pressing legal reason to grant more rights to cohabiting partners.

No, the unmarried people who are living together aren't the ones who will benefit from half-baked cohabitation laws. It's the PN which continues to propel such measures forward in order to keep a foot in both the conservative, religious camp, and the more liberal camp which is not opposed to divorce. Keeping a foot on either side of the fence, however, means being a target for both sides, and the Prime Minister should brace himself for potshots from both the pro-marriage and pro-divorce brigade. They're the reactions his wishy-washy, half-way house measures will provoke.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt