AD tells MPs to come clean with electorate over divorce

Earlier this month, AD wrote to the Social Affairs Committee within parliament on the subject. Michael Briguglio, AD Chairperson, said the party had invited all MPs to start debating divorce in Parliament. “Lack of action from Nationalist and Labour parliamentarians will only confirm they are either cut off from the reality of thousands of people who require this basic civil right, or else that they are not ready to discuss the issue.”

The party also criticized Labour leader Joseph Muscat’s proposal to give his MPs a free vote on divorce. “All those who require the right to divorce deserve to be given a sound reason which explains the shying away of parliamentarians from discussing this basic civil right,” Briguglio said.

In their letter, AD said cohabitation legislation would never compensate the lack of rights for couples who are separated, siblings living together and gay partners, and called government’s proposals “a political strategy to keep postponing essential reforms on other areas regarding the rights of different types of families.”

“The introduction of divorce legislation will not cure all society’s problems but will definitely put an end to the discriminatory state of affairs where only divorce obtained

in another country is recognised…

“AD has full appreciation of the Catholic Church's role as a legitimate and major voice in Malta's public sphere… But, here one must appreciate that in modern secular societies, where

respect of civil rights take centre stage, being a Catholic is one identity among others. No one is obliged to divorce but the possibility of divorce should exist as a basic civil right.”

AD said it was “unfortunate” that the Nationalist parliamentary group was refusing to read the signs of the times and that Labour was adopting a ‘catch-all’ approach “by trying to please everyone at the same time. It is more than evident that the Labourite proposal for a parliamentary free-vote on divorce will be defeated, due to the opposition of certain Labour MPs… In sum, both parliamentary groups are doing a big disservice to the introduction of basic rights in Malta.”

AD also sent the divorce legislation of Ireland and Italy, both countries with a Catholic heritage, to MPs to use as a “starting point for long-due parliamentary discussions on the introduction of divorce in Malta.”