I read with great interest the article in The Times of April 8 on the views of Fr Denis Wilde on abortion. It was reported that Fr Wilde strongly believes that Malta should protect its pro-life stance by establishing it firmly in the Constitution. In the opinion of Fr Wilde this amendment to the Maltese Constitution is "imperative to prevent the EU from pressurising Malta into introducing abortion". Well said and explained, especially where Fr Wilde draws an analogy as to what has happened on the same subject in the USA mostly as a result of that country's Supreme Court decision taken in 1973 which legalised abortion, the dire consequences of which are still being felt today. In my opinion, however, there are a couple of "ifs" and "buts" in the same equation that also need to be taken into consideration.

Some time ago readers may recall that the Council of Europe (CoE) on April 16, 2008 passed a resolution calling on member states to make abortion "an unconditional right". To compound this adverse situation from the point of view of the pro-life movement, this resolution was passed in a resounding manner with 102 votes in favour, 69 against and 14 abstentions.

The CoE resolution as such is not binding on member states, but observers on both sides of the issue feel that the adoption of this resolution was a very serious step on the part of the pro-abortionists to finally force the EU to have abortion legalised in an unrestricted manner throughout the Union. Some are even of the view that all that is needed now is for the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to declare itself in favour of the principle of abortion being "an unconditional right" as adopted by the CoE Assembly on April 16, 2008. The fact that the said resolution was passed by a large majority could further influence the decision of the ECJ in its favour when this is finally taken. To many observers this is only a matter of time and timing and the Maltese authorities had better prepare themselves to face the situation when it does materialise.

In an article I wrote in The Times on the same subject some months ago I asked the authorities or some MEP to enlighten us on what would be the situation in Malta if the ECJ takes a decision to uphold the resolution on abortion as passed by the CoE last year. Would an amendment to the Constitution, as suggested by Fr Wilde, protect Malta from being obliged to introduce abortion in Malta? The question has remained unanswered. I have my own serious doubts about the sufficiency of the amendment to the Constitution to address this issue in a definitive manner. Nor, in my opinion, would the safeguards in the protocol on abortion annexed to Malta's Accession Treaty be an adequate safety net.

These questions need to be reflected upon with urgency so that we are fully prepared for when eventually we have to face them. It's only a matter of time. These reflections should not be restricted to abortion. There are other issues of equal importance that could hit us at any time. For example, during my time some years ago as chairman of the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter of the Council of Europe I was faced more than once with the insistence by representatives of member states that divorce was a human right.

In conclusion, therefore, with regard to the question raised in the previous paragraph, I draw the authorities' attention to case law of the ECJ on the question of the supremacy of community law from the Court of Justice's perspective. The court ruled "that the legal status of a conflicting national measure was not relevant to the question whether community law should take precedence". Of an abundantly more serious nature was the decision of the court in the same case law which ruled that "Not even a fundamental rule of national constitutional law could be invoked to challenge the supremacy of a directly applicable Community law."

I do not hold myself to be competent enough on such high legal matters, but someone in authority must perforce enlighten us Maltese citizens on these vital issues of great importance to all of us. The silence so far is deafening - and for that very same reason rather frightening.