‘We need to explain more’

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has acknowledged his government needs to communicate better if it is to put its message and policies across, after succumbing to political and public pressure on the controversial honoraria issue.

“We need to explain more. We need to continue undertaking important reforms but we have to understand they will succeed a lot more if they’re taken on board by those who are being impacted – and by public opinion,” Dr Gonzi said.

The Prime Minister was speaking in an interview with The Sunday Times after he put the brakes on salary rises for MPs and decided that members of his Cabinet should refund a section of the raise they had received in 2008.

However, he denied that three of the government’s U-turns during this administration had been dictated by backbenchers, for fear of losing a single-seat majority in Parliament.

“The (honoraria) decision had nothing to do with any condition set by Jean Pierre Farrugia. I came to the decision logically, fairly and responsibly,” Dr Gonzi said.

Despite the latest controversy, he insisted that he still enjoyed the backing of the entire parliamentary group, including ministers, who have been asked to refund €19,000.

Speaking about divorce, Dr Gonzi said it was his wish that a referendum would settle the issue before the end of the year.

But despite making it clear he objected to the introduction of divorce, he insisted he would leave the Nationalist Party’s executive free to make a decision.

The PN’s executive held another meeting on Friday evening to decide the way forward. Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando had taken his own party by surprise when he put forward a Private Member’s Bill on divorce last year.

Sources within the PN’s executive yesterday told The Sunday Times that the party is expected to draw up a clear position on the way divorce fits within the party’s Christian Democrat roots.

It also plans to draw up a detailed roadmap of how the issue should be tackled at parliamentary level, whether a free vote would be taken, and what position the party would take in an eventual referendum.

So far, 25 out of some 90 executive members have spoken out publicly, and there appears to be a movement that wants the party to come out unequivocally against the introduction of divorce, one source said.

However, the source said that should such a position be taken, a resolution would make it clear that the PN would always embrace anybody with different views on divorce.

Another official warned about the potential long-term repercussions on the party’s progressive supporters should the PN opt to join the anti-divorce argument.

Asked whether he considered the issue of divorce as a social or religious argument, Dr Gonzi said: “After 23 years in politics I have a track record of distinguishing between my faith, which I treasure, and my responsibility as a person contributing to politics.”