[WATCH] JPO’s press conference a foil to hit out at Simon Busuttil

Along with others with different political beliefs, Evarist Bartolo and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando teamed up in 2011 to spearhead a campaign that would lead to the introduction of divorce in Malta.

Pullicino Orlando, then a Nationalist MP, had presented a private member’s bill on legalizing divorce but the Prime Minister at the time, Lawrence Gonzi, decided that the matter should be decided in a referendum.

Fast forward seven years and Bartolo and Pullicino Orlando call a press conference to talk about “socio-political developments”.

Pope Francis’s exhortation Amoris Laetitia provides an opening for Catholics in family relationships deemed irregular by the Church – divorced and remarried couples.

Sitting inside the Bacchus Restaurant in Mdina, Bartolo recalled how the divorce referendum campaign had brought together people from all walks of life and with different political beliefs.

He drew comparisons between the ‘No’ campaigners who at the time had claimed ‘Yes’ supporters would “burn in hell” and the recent change in the Pope’s approach towards divorced or separated persons.

“The Pope’s exhortation makes it easier, and more humane, so that divorced and separated persons can continue to feel part of the Church,” the Education Minister said, adding that the Maltese society was becoming “more humane”.

But as Pullicino Orlando took over the press conference, it became increasingly clear that his focus would be Simon Busuttil and the Nationalist Party. He stated that the coalition which Eddie Fenech Adami had built in the 80s had been dissolved by the time Gonzi came to face the electorate in 2013 – “as a result of the divorce campaign”.

“The conservative base shut itself in an ivory tower leading to the historical loss of the 2013 elections… they wanted to consolidate the hardcore base,” Pullicino Orlando as he gave his analysis of the PN.

“There has been an interesting political development: you can be an idealist but when you’re elected leader, you want your party to win the elections. Simon Busuttil is trying to widen the PN vote base and move beyond the Religio et Patria which Gonzi so strongly believed in. Now, he’s moving beyond that, even beyond the liberals and inviting in libertarians, bordering on the anarchic.”

With the recent attacks against PN deputy leader Mario de Marco – albeit the PN has insisted that it still remains a united party – Pullicino Orlando said Simon Busuttil risked losing “the old guard”.

Dubbing blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia “the PN’s spokesperson”, Pullicino Orlando said the party was allowing attacks against De Marco despite the public knowledge surrounding his health.

He moved on to remind how the party had treated him when he had different views, whilst Busuttil was now attempting “a rapprochement” to widen his vote base.

On his part, when asked about PN accusations that the press conference was an attempt to deviate attention from the FTS allegations, Bartolo said this was “absolutely ridiculous”.

Questioned by the press, Pullicino Orlando said that he had been approached to contest the upcoming elections on a Labour ticket but he had no intention of doing so.