A cohabitation Bill set to be published after Parliament’s summer recess appears to have received the backing of independent MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.
The former Nationalist MP met with Justice Minister Chris Said yesterday, saying he was “very satisfied” that both the cohabitation Bill and the IVF Bill published last month were being “treated with the urgency they deserve by the Nationalist government”.
In a press statement, Dr Pullicino Orlando said the meeting focused on “a number of points related to the rights of cohabiting couples in general and gay couples in particular”.
The Żebbuġ MP’s apparent consent to the draft cohabitation Bill will have drawn a collective sigh of relief among the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group, which must count on Dr Pullicino Orlando’s vote to pass the Bill through Parliament.
Dr Pullicino Orlando resigned from the PN’s parliamentary group in July, pledging to continue supporting the government on condition that he be consulted on matters not included in the PN’s 2008 electoral manifesto.
The crunch time, in the form of a parliamentary vote on the Bills, is still some time away.
And although Dr Pullicino Orlando’s press statement was positive in tone, the MP stopped short from pledging to support the Bill in Parliament.
Dr Pullicino added: “I obviously reserve the right to present amendments to both Bills, when the government presents them in their final version, at the opportune moment if I feel that it may be necessary”.
A cohabitation Bill aimed at providing unmarried people living together with legal status has been on the cards for almost 15 years, having first been mentioned in the PN’s 1998 electoral manifesto.
The Bill is now expected to see the light of day once Parliament sits again in October, although it has been promised several times before.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had promised the Bill by the end of 2010.
A Justice Ministry spokesman subsequently promised the draft law by the end of last year’s summer recess.
When that did not happen, the government set itself an end-of-2011 deadline, which was followed up last March by a promise that the Bill was on the verge of being published.
But with the PN parliamentary group having met to discuss the draft law earlier this month, the elusive Bill is now a step closer to being made public than ever before.
Details on the Bill’s provisions remain sketchy, although it is likely to include special provisions for gay couples.
A Justice Ministry spokes-man characterised the meeting as “positive”, although he declined to enter into the Bill’s specific provisions, saying discussions were ongoing.