Divorce bill before House on July 4

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A House Business Committee meeting established that Parliament will start to debate the divorce bill on July 4 and will continue until July 13 when a vote will be taken to close the second reading of the bill.

Following this vote, the House is set to discuss the clauses within the House Committee for the Consideration of Bills.

While no date has been fixed for the final vote on the third reading, it is expected that the clauses will be discussed within the committee during the summer.

Both government and Opposition MPs have been urged to draw up their amendments to the clauses beforehand.

The bill will be debated in the wake of a referendum held on May 28, whereby almost 53 per cent of the electorate agreed to the introduction of divorce.

The bill was presented to parliament last July as a private members bill prepared by government MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, and was later co-sponsored by Opposition MP Evarist Bartolo.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had immediately declared his opposition ti the introduction of divorce and had also led the PN to take a stand against it.

Following the referendum result, the Prime Minister urged parliament to “respect” the people’s wishes, however he refrained from declaring how he would be voting in parliament.

The Prime Minister insists however that “government will ensure” the bill is passed.

More from Karl Stagno-Navarra

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Procrastination......this is what is behind! The final vote,ie the 3rd reading, might well be taken in Autumn and might perhaps overlap with the Budget and possibly be left pending until Parliament will rise for the the Christmas recess......and who knows whether it will be even adjourned sine die!!!! It is easy to smell a rat here! Why should not after the taking of the vote at the Second reading, the House resolve itself into Committee stage and clause after clause be debated and voted upon in the House, not behing closed doors! This is the people's Bill that will be approved (hopefully) and the people's sovreignity that should reign supreme......the mps should only be proxies. What did the LP mps present on the House Business Committe had to say?

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So L--Aħrax/Mazzun is John Briffa. Thanks for the tip, Karl; he must be really desperate for readers for his blogs because ALL his comments literally beg people to go read them. . I suppose we have to accept that even maltatoday.com is being taken over by spammers. Just ignore him and perhaps he'll go away.

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@ john.briffa/mazzun Prosit ghal din il-websajt tal pl

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Yes let's get it over with! Check this: http://bit.ly/m2K3NZ

Divorce bill before House on July 4

Parliament is set to debate the divorce bill on Monday July 4.