The loony Nationalist Party

Lawrence Gonzi as portrayed by the European Voice (Marco Villard)

Just as immigration is bringing out the worst aspect of the Labour Party’s populist ideology, divorce has brought out the worse of the Nationalist Party’s confessional conservatism.

The PN has lost any claim of being an inclusive moderate party (which explains why the PN won so many elections) and is increasingly resembling a loony, confessional party whose identity derives from confessional beliefs rather than economic and social programmes.

This is a deliberate political choice made by a leadership which seems to have lost the plot. Tonio Fenech’s recent claims in which he referred to the Virgin Mary crying over the introduction of divorce in Malta was the cherry on the cake.

What makes me wonder is that there have been no wave of protests or resignations from within the party. Ironically the most offended should not be the liberals but the Christian Democrats, who are seeing their party hijacked by neo-conservatives who define their political identity on confessional grounds. 

Historically, Christian Democracy was an attempt by centrist parties in Europe to depart from the confessionalism of clerical-fascist parties and embrace modernity, European integration and a social market economy. In post fascist Europe, the idea of the common good was mostly applied to social and economic matters. Christian Democratic leaders like Angela Merkel in Germany and Pier Ferdinando Casini in Italy are divorced.  Nobody raises the issue.  But judging by the PN’s billboards, the marriage of these fellow Christian democrats is tainted by an expiry date.

What has been remarkable was the lack of internal debate in the PN over this hara-kiri direction taken by the leadership.

Having never voted for the PN and not being myself a Christian Democrat, I should be the last one to speak about this.

Anyway, it is the only interesting thing and worthy of analysis which am finding in a divorce campaign which is bound to be stale and boring, considering that we are discussing a basic civil right which all countries in the world except two, accept.