Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s comments that a Private Member’s Bill proposed by two MPs was “not serious” were unfair, the Divorce Movement said yesterday.
The proposed legislation reflected the discussion within the recently set up pro-divorce movement, which also includes Labour MP Evarist Bartolo and Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the movement said.
The movement replied to comments made by Dr Gonzi on Wednesday during the launch of a Centre for Family Studies at University when he criticised the way the draft divorce Bill was presented. He said it was not right for a Bill to first be presented and then it resulted it was not good enough. “I think that on a serious matter such as the family, legislative proposals warrant serious thought and research before one goes to Parliament to debate them,” Dr Gonzi said.
Two days ago, the two MPs presented a number of amendments to the Civil Code, which will supersede the Divorce Bill modelled on Irish law and presented by Dr Pullicino Orlando in summer.
The Divorce Movement said the proposed legislation provided for a responsible divorce mechanism that included protection for the spouses and their children.
The proposed legislation would remove the discriminating situation where divorce granted to Maltese abroad was recognised while the Maltese could not obtain divorce in their own country, the movement said.
The proposed Bill, it added, was based on the most conservative law in the world – Irish divorce legislation – and people who applied for divorce had to be separated for four years out of the last five and proved the marriage had irretrievably broken down.
The amendments proposed earlier this week made the proposed legislation more relevant for Malta. Also, it was normal that original Bills were amended, the movement said.
It pointed out that Dr Gonzi was right to argue that decisions, such as divorce, should not be taken on the basis of what other countries did. This, the movement said, was never the basis for its call for divorce.
It insisted that divorce was only the recognition that a marriage would have irretrievably broken down and could not continue to be called a marriage.
It also agreed there should be more studies on how marriages could survive. But there was no doubt some marriages would continue to fail and local studies, such as by Discern, for example, which projected 35,000 separated persons by 2015, could not be ignored.
Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio said Dr Gonzi had adopted an ostrich-like approach, burying “his head in the sand from the reality of thousands of people”.
“It is very arrogant to assume Malta knows better than all other countries in the world and, to date, no other country has reversed its divorce legislation. It is clear more than ever that divorce is a political issue which can be solved through a vote,” he said.