They have often been described as values championed by the EU but divorce and same-sex civil unions are not matters Brussels has competence on.
Similarly, the EU has no say on other thorny moral and social issues like abortion, prostitution and drugs.
But the distinction between what is purely a national competence and an EU matter has often been blurred.
In the run-up to the EU referendum campaign, those opposed to membership had warned that Malta’s anti-abortion stand would have to change. This prompted Maltese negotiators to successfully argue for the inclusion of a protocol in the accession agreement to underscore the fact that abortion was solely a national competence.
The protocol was unnecessary but it allayed fears stoked by non-binding resolutions passed every now and then by the European Parliament urging the introduction of abortion in national legislation.
However, the lines of competence have also been blurred by liberals who campaigned for the introduction of divorce three years ago – and the civil unions law this year.
Among the triumphal arguments put forward is that 10 years after EU membership Malta ‘finally’ joined the rest of the EU and adopted these ‘European values’.
Society has passed through significant change since the introduction of divorce in 2011. Same-sex civil unions with the same rights as marriage followed suit and the next step is a move to decriminalise the personal use of drugs.
But the question that lingers is whether this liberal wave was a result of EU membership as is often claimed.
Michael Briguglio, a sociologist, does not believe EU membership was “a determining factor” in the social changes that ensued.
He points his finger elsewhere. “Divorce and civil unions became possible because civil society rose up and gave the issues political stature by forming wide alliances and strong lobby groups.”
Dr Briguglio says different groups found a common discourse that eventually went mainstream and convinced a wider section of society.
“In the divorce campaign civil society coalesced around the Irish divorce model while in the civil unions debate various organisations went for the option of full marriage rights without calling it marriage.”
He credits the Labour Party for giving the gay rights debate legitimacy and legislating for civil unions but insists this has nothing to do with Brussels. Similarly, the EU has no say on the government’s decision to introduce universal free child care, Dr Briguglio adds.
He finds it ironic that, in the run-up to the European Parliament election, issues such as family rights, over which the Parliament has no jurisdiction, are at the fore and economic matters, over which the Parliament holds much more sway, are barely featuring.
Divorce and civil unions became possible because civil society rose up and gave the issues political stature by forming wide alliances and strong lobby groups
“Issues like the trans-Atlantic trade partnership with the USA, which has serious implications and the EP can potentially block, have not featured in the discourse of politicians,” he says.
But the perception that EU membership would transform Maltese society transcends the political field.
In a paper delivered at a 2009 national conference to commemorate Malta’s fifth anniversary in the EU, Reverend Joseph Ellul had reminisced over the challenges the Maltese Church would have to face.
“In the next few years... the Church in Malta will have to face the same challenges that European societies have faced for the past 50 years or more: the challenge of divorce... cohabitation, same-sex marriages, adoptions by parents of the same sex.”
Dr Ellul, a lecturer in dogmatic theology, had even described the abortion protocol as “nothing less than an illusion” since pressure was mounting from EU bodies in “subtle and not so subtle ways”.
His words were almost prophetic but Fr Joe Borg, a columnist, argues the law allowing adoptions by same-sex couples and giving gay people the right to marry – he insists on calling it gay marriage – has absolutely nothing to do with EU membership.
He says that less than a third of EU countries have gay marriage as part of their laws, while all other countries except Malta have abortion.
“If the EU was such an influential force Malta should have introduced abortion long before gay marriage.”
Fr Borg argues that the liberal forces promoting these issues are purposely mixing up the European cultural philosophy that argues the case for such values with EU membership.
“The philosophy that underpins these types of laws goes beyond the EU institutions and has absolutely no relation to them,” Fr Borg says.
Whether the new acquired rights are European in nature may be a moot point after all. But they do say a lot about the evolving nature of society.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com