Borg Olivier - 'PN has right policies, leader to win next election'

PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier has defended his party’s stand against divorce, saying his was party would still welcome candidates that did not agree with its position.

“It’s a party of Christian values, but secular, enjoys unity in its diversity, and it is dedicated to the strengthening of the family… we cannot separate these values but it doesn’t mean that who isn’t in line with the party’s mainstream thinking gets excluded.”

Borg Olivier said he was convinced the PN still had the right policies and leader to win the next general elections, speaking on Radju Malta’s Ghandi Xi Nghid.

On Wednesday, two Nationalist MPs – Jesmond Mugliett and divorce bill promoter Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – voted in favour of a Labour motion to hold a referendum on 28 May asking voters if they agreed with the introduction of divorce for spouses separated for four years.

Borg Olivier told presenter Andrew Azzopardi that it was incorrect to state that the government had ‘lost’ the vote.

“We didn’t really lose the vote… when you give a free vote you cannot say that the party has lost the vote. It’s not a vote directed by the party whip, there is no defiance of the party line.”

Azzopardi pressed him on whether Pullicino Orlando’s private members’ bill had already been in defiance of the party.

“Yes, nobody in the party could accept the way that was done… waking up in the morning – despite his right as MP to do so – to present a private bill, was impulsive. It was not a move that tallied with the collegiality the party expected,” Borg Olivier said.

The secretary-general defended his party’s consistency on holding a referendum, saying it was the Opposition leader that had ruled out a referendum on divorce. “It appears he did not have enough MPs to pass the divorce bill… I think it was the PN that was consistent in the way it handled the matter, even in respect of Pullicino Orlando himself.”

Borg Olivier said Pullicino Orlando should have presented his idea to the party’s executive committee before going ahead with the bill.

The PN has approved a party resolution declaring its opposition to divorce, which was followed by a Labour motion to hold a referendum with a detailed question asking voters if they agree with divorce after a four-year separation.

Borg Olivier dispelled claims that he had ‘militated’ in favour of divorce as a member of the PN’s youth organ MZPN: “I’m against divorce not entirely because of my Christian faith, but because the value of the family is good in itself, a fundamental vaue.”

He also argued in favour of considering ‘the common good’ in establishing whether a divorce law would be beneficial or not to Maltese society.

In comments on Malta’s position in the conflict in Libya, Borg Olivier said it was not necessary for the island to be used as a military base for the enforcement of the no-fly zone.

“It is important that the spirit of our constitution does not get misinterpreted in times of conflict… what the prime minister said was that Malta cannot be used as a military base, and there are other countries that can be used as a military base. It is not necessary for Malta itself to be used as a base.”