‘Roadmap’ for divorce referendum campaign crucial – Muscat

The campaign expected to culminate in the much-awaited divorce referendum currently lacks frameworks governing campaign funding, transparency, and what structure the referendum would take, says Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat.

Speaking during a meeting with the pro-divorce Moviment Iva committee held at the PL’s HQ in Hamrun, Muscat questioned when discussions would take place that would determine what structure both the campaign and the referendum would take.

“We should be discussing not only whether or not to introduce divorce, but also how the decision will be made,” Muscat said, referring to the way the referendum question would be determined and what structure the process will take.

“We need to discuss and decide what regulations will be in place, and what safeguards will protect the process.” This ‘roadmap’ should be determined through open dialogue with all stakeholders involved, including the church, he said.

He also questioned how would the proposed law be discussed in parliament: “Will there be a second reading of the bill? Will it go to committee level? Will it then go on hold until the referendum is held? Or will it be discussed through another approach?”

Conceding that these aspects might be considered “technicalities,” Muscat affirmed that they are crucial questions that can drastically impact the entire process.

“I am comfortable working with everyone on the committee,” he told a gathering which included Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the man who beat Muscat to the punch in presenting the divorce Private Members bill.

Muscat also speculated that the campaign aiming to convince the majority of the population to vote in favour of the introduction of divorce will be “an uphill struggle.” He emphasised that the campaign will need to work hard in educating the public and raising awareness of the realities of divorce.

Reacting to remarks made on Sunday by former President Eddie Fenech Adami that he was “proud of a divorce-free Malta”, Muscat said he however is not proud of the way current divorce legislation discriminates between those who can afford to obtain a divorce abroad, and those who cannot.

“I am sure that there will be scare mongering along the way,” he said.

“If this referendum doesn’t approve the introduction of divorce,” Muscat said, answering questions from the press, “I’ll hold another one.” Committee chairperson Deborah Schembri interjected, pointing out that Ireland had held two divorce referenda before the legislation was finally introduced.

Asked for a reaction to the co-habitation laws under discussion in parliament, Muscat said that he did not agree with the idea that co-habitation legalisation was trying to ‘create’ second-class marriages. “It is a bit hypocritical for one to be in favour of co-habitation and yet be against divorce.”

Also referring to cohabitation, Schembri added that many separated couples are currently co-habiting because they cannot remarry – rendering co-habitation their ‘plan B’.

She affirmed that a society shouldn’t be contemplating co-habitation before divorce. “A society wanted to strengthen the family should be opting for divorce before it opts for co-habitation,” emphasising that many co-habiting separated couples genuinely want to remarry.

The meeting is the pro-divorce movement’s second since its launch. Last week, it met with Alternattiva Demokratika to discuss how the two could work together on the campaign. The committee should also be meeting with prime Minster Lawrence Gonzi in the coming weeks.

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Question to be asked to Joseph Muscat: If divorce is not passed through a referendum, will you still table a private bill and grant a free vote on the introduction of divorce if the Labour Party wins the 2013 general elections? If a referendum on divorce does not materialize during this legislature, what will be Joseph Muscat's position? will he table a private bill or head for a referendum? Personal view: I was very enthusiastic about the prospect of having a free vote in Parliament. In this way, MPs would be held accountable for once. Holding a referendum is a convenient way to save the PN from disintegrating into two main factions as it happened to the PL with the EU stance. I hope some journalists will ask him these questions.
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One has to note that in Malta; divorce is not illegal so much so that we accept those that obtain divorce from another country as legally divorced. What I find amazing is that with so many hurts and burdens that the people of malta are undertaking and with the below the poverty line humans so much on the increase, the labour young leader has so much top of priority list the divorce issue. Regret to say that this is making him incopetent to be our next prime minister. He is becoming part of the decoy to make divorce hide the real problems we are facing. i would say if he is not ready for the change the people of malta so much need why don't he join the iva and let someone else lead the PL.
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Let me explain. It may surprise some of you to learn that in Malta, a member of the Commonwealth and an EU state, divorce is still illegal. And this isn't one of those outdated laws that they somehow never got around to changing, like cab drivers not being able to pick up people infected with plague. Malta was a British colony until 1964, and though divorce has been allowed for an elite few in British law for centuries, and for all citizens since 1857, banning divorce is something the Maltese people chose to write into their constitution during the 1960s. In the deeply Catholic nations of the Mediterranean this was relatively common at the time. Divorce was still illegal in countries like Italy, Portugal and Spain, and even in the Republic of Ireland. But these places all legalised divorce in the period between 1971 and 1994. Somehow Malta has found itself one of only two countries left in the world where divorce is still illegal, along with the Philippines. The main issue here can be found in Chapter 1, Article 2 (2) of the Maltese constitution: "The authorities of the Roman Catholic apostolic church have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong." Whilst the constitution does allow freedom of religion, it also establishes Catholicism as the official state religion. Some 98% percent of the Maltese population still identify themselves as Catholic. The remaining 2% consists largely of small Muslim communities created by immigration from Africa and Protestant communities formed by British retirees. Defying the European trend, the population shows no sign of secularisation at all and the issue of divorce is not going to be straightforward. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/16/malta-divorce-legal
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Jurgen Cachia
I appreciate that many are desperate to see a change of government. if I were still living in Malta I would too. But it gets up my nose to read that Muscat wants to include the Church as a stakeholder in the dialogue for divorce. Exactly why would this be? With its blanket opposition to divorce the Church has removed itself from the right to have any say on it. Let it wallow in its inhuman, medieval dogmatism - and let the rest of Malta move on into the 21st century.