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Thanks to the EU, we have another debate on the divorce issue in Malta and thirty years after the introduction of the White Paper on the family in which the issue of divorce was also included, we are still inundated with the same reasons for not allowing divorce to the Maltese citizens and to those living and residing in Malta.
Let’s face it, the Taliban is not only in Afghanistan but we also have them here. You may not notice but certain ministries make it a point not to nominate or appoint anyone whose marriage is not functioning at the surface at least, and we have had instances, at least I know of one case, where a person did not get the promotion because of his civil status as a person who is legally separated and who has decided to start another relationship. That is to tell you how low we can go here, in order to give the image that we are holier than the rest of the world and that divorce is not welcome because it destroys the family fabric in Malta.
Needless to say these people quote what happened overseas and they just cut and paste to the hypothetical situation of what will happen in Malta if we introduce divorce. Little do these people know that there is no distinction whatsoever between the effects of legal separation and the effects of divorce, on the children. The trauma that children go through when their parents separate is bigger than the trauma they go through when their parents divorce. Why do I say this? Because even if we introduce divorce, these people do not tell us that the procedure of separation will remain the same and that there will not be a divorce without a separation. In Italy, people have to wait four years after they separate to apply for divorce. So the argument of the effect of divorce on the children does not hold water because for the children divorce or separation has the same effects on them.
Of course, a divorcee has a right to re-marry but when those people who are separated with children and decide to cohabit and have another family, who is speaking out for the children of the first marriage? This is the hypocrisy of these people who wave the flag that divorce brings chaos. As if we are not already living in a country of chaos where children from the first marriage have more rights than the children of cohabitees, or that couples who cohabit have no rights against those who marry. So to those who say that children whose parents divorce are traumatised, we tell them that even children whose parents are legally separated are traumatised.
As long as the debate on divorce does not surface, those whose hearts pour on the unity of the family remain silent and were it not for the Church who voiced its concern on the property prices and who these are effecting the foundations of any relationship in marriage, everybody kept burying his or her head in the sand and adopted the ‘I’m alright f*** you Jack’ attitude. It is the same with cohabitation: it is a state of fact that is increasing and we are indifferent to the partner who is dumped after devoting his or her life to the relationship and to the children from this relationship. There are no rights for such partner and if there is anything beneficial to the present situation where we have no divorce, it is for those partners who do not want the responsibility and the duties of another marriage, and co-habit because they know that if this relationship ends, they will not have to go through the pains of another saga in court. It is a state of affairs that is benefiting mostly men and in this society, if men are happy, everybody must be happy.
I have for endless times written on the humiliation that any spouse goes through when separating because this government has introduced laws which specifically demolish the structure of the family. If on the one hand this government is saying how much it treasures the family, on the other hand the same government is adopting laws which go against the concept of the family as one unit: for example, banks, employers, directors of licensing, investment companies, and other entities are protected by law not to give the spouse the assets of debts of the other spouse when being married. Family law says that everything you earn and you debit, is in one basket. This is just an example of the humiliation that that spouse has to go through by asking every time the Family Court, and at a charge, authorisation for such entities to give such information.
It is the same with adultery: although adultery is the most grievous because of the breakdown of marriage, yet it is not punished by law and hence, a spouse is free to go with as many other men or women because it will not affect his or her share of the community of acquests. Recently we had the example of Shaun, and how easy it is for us to give our children to another country when other countries work hard to keep their children with them. But that is how it goes here: we say we love the family, and at the same time, we pass laws that weaken the structure of the family.
It is odd how in this country space for the debate on divorce is always available but space for the debate on the family is inexistent. And then these people who are supposed to champion family life do not even bother to discuss these concerns and adopt a policy on the situation at present and how should we go from here.
It is no wonder therefore that divorce is gaining support in Malta. If the government and society have so far seen no problem in family life in Malta and seen no crisis in it (on the contrary, the government is always boasting how successful it was in introducing compulsory mediation, and for your information there is no notion of compulsory mediation in the institute of mediation anywhere in the books except in Malta), how can they now face the public and tell them to sit down and obey because divorce is not good for them?
It is thanks to the EU that we are again discussing the issue of divorce. The EU is proposing that if EU citizens marry in an EU country and come to live in Malta, they can apply in a Maltese court for divorce and the Maltese judge has to give them divorce on the basis of the law of the place when they contracted the marriage. The debate between the EU and the Maltese government is the following: the EU is saying that EU citizens have freedom of movement and they have the right to live anywhere within the EU and on the other hand the Maltese government is saying that they have that right, yet they have no right to apply to a Maltese court for divorce because that will be introducing divorce through the back door. Mind you divorce was introduced through the back door in 1975 when we allowed divorce from abroad to be registered in Malta and given the parties the right to re-marry. Malta can veto the proposal but it will not do it because it knows of the political and economic repercussions if it does this.
A flash Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Commission and published on the 15 January stated that the survey was carried out between 31 March and 5 April 2006 on 25,000 randomly selected citizens aged from 15 and above and covering the 25 Member States, including Malta. The result is as follows:
75% of the overall EU population expect the EU to play a role to facilitate legislation for recognising civil status certificates (birth and marriage certificates); 52% of the EU-25 population believe that people should be able to choose which country’s divorce law should apply (the law of the country they currently live, or where they used to live or that of their country of origin) and to choose in which country the divorce proceeding will take place. The majority support this in the new Member States (55%) and in the EU-15 (51%).
At the Informal Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Dresden, family law issues are on the agenda and the Vice President Franco Frattini, Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security declared: “the recent Eurobarometer shows that EU citizens are asking for more European involvement in the filed of family law. I therefore fully support the German Presidency’s intention to tackle this question in order to guarantee legal certainty, access to justice and mutual recognition of decisions taken with the EU. EU citizens understand perfectly well that there is no intention from Brussels to impose harmonised EU family law as such but that European actions are needed in this field to facilitate their life and protect their rights.”
The government is alone against the other 24 member states on this issue. We shall wait and see how he will get us out of this mess.
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