Long overdue cohabitation bill debated in Parliament • Opposition to vote in favour

The proposed cohabitation bill was tabled in parliament this evening for its second reading. Civil liberties minister Helena Dalli said that the law is long overdue and is another step towards building a society that respects all individuals and the choices that they make.

Dalli said that the country has needed such a law since the 1990s and criticised past administrations for not delivering what they had promised, adding that the bill presented in 2012 did not appreciate the realities faced by people in society.

She said that new law would recognise three main types of cohabitation arrangements. A de facto cohabitation arrangement which awards basic rights to those in the relationship, registered cohabitation by notarial contract and a unilateral arrangement intended to give rights to those living in a situation where one partner refuses to create any form of contractual agreement.

Under the proposed law, unmarried couples who have been living together for at least two years, the couple will be guaranteed basic rights, such as next of kin rights in the event of hospitalization, the right not to testify against their partner in court, as well as the right to remain the couple’s common home in the event that one of the partners dies.

The partners will also be allowed to remain in the common home for a “reasonable” amount of time in the event of a break-up.

The minister also said that the law would allow couples to enter into a tailor made contract that suited their needs. She said that a number of people were nowadays choosing not to get married, and that this law would provide rights similar to those of a married couple.

Speaking on behalf of the opposition, Nationalist MP Clyde Puli said that allowing people to regulate their lives is something that the opposition believes in and that it would be voting in favour of the bill because it feels that all people should be treated with dignity and respect.

Puli however said that the unilateral option being proposed by the law goes against the spirit of the law. He said that rather than giving people more rights, the possibility that someone could be entered into a cohabitation agreement without his or her knowledge was something that the opposition was concerned with.

“The wording of the law implies that the law is offering the possibility to regularise a willing relationship, but also implies that a non-willing relationship can also be regularised. In addition to this the wording also implies that an individual can unilaterally register a person without their knowledge or consent,” said Puli.

Dalli clarified that people would have the right to contest a unilateral registration and added that the unilateral registration of a cohabiting relationship will only be permitted in the first 5 years after the introduction of the law.

“Had we not made provisions for this third type of cohabitation we would have been committing an injustice towards these people, a lot of whom have no rights, and nothing to legally show for all the work they have put in to a relationship.”