Prime Minister told how a 'Yes' vote on divorce may cost him his job

The warning was made clear during last Friday’s PN Executive committee’s meeting that started the internal debate on divorce, following MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s Private Member Bill.

During the meeting, PN International secretary John Bonello reportedly stunned the party’s executive by reminding his party on the political fall-out the PN could face if the matter is “mishandled.”

Bonello  drew a parallel with the political and constitutional crisis that shook Belgium in 1990, when parliament in Brussels had approved a law that permitted abortion when Christian democrat Prime Minister Wilfried Martens had been totally opposed to the bill.

The PN International secretary referred Gonzi and his fellow party colleagues to the recent autobiography by Wilfried Martens, who was also President of the European People’s Party (EPP).

John Bonello quoted from the former Belgian Prime Minister’s recent publication  ‘Europe: I Struggle, I Overcome’ where he referred to the political crisis he faced when the abortion bill was approved and he was opposed, and the further complication of King Baudouin’s subsequent abdication on the basis of ‘crisis of conscience’.

The parallel was drawn following Lawrence Gonzi’s introduction to the meeting by reiterating his firm stand against divorce, and his disagreement on the Private Member Bill presented by MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

Gonzi appealed to the members on the Executive council members to speak out on the matter, while many – including Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg – expressed themselves in favour of the matter going before the people in a referendum.

But John Bonello reminded his party colleagues to be cautious in any approach they take on the matter.

Yet John Bonello kept on referring his colleagues to be very cautious, and quoted Wilfried Martens on the 1990 Belgian crisis.

He read a paragraph in which Martens looked back at the crisis he and his government had faced and said: “personally, I was in favour of a limited amendment to the bill. If we had worked out a bill while there was time, as the Christian Democrats had done in Germany, we now would have a more restrictive law on the matter.”

Contacted yesterday, John Bonello preferred not to comment, however he stated that it was his conviction that the PN “must take a stand on the divorce issue, rather than procrastinating on a debate.”

During the meeting, MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando made a presentation to his colleagues about the law he was proposing in his Private Member Bill.

In replies to his colleagues, Pullicino Orlando stated that it would be important for the party to take note of the fact that PL leader Joseph Muscat promised a ‘free vote’ to his MPs.

He warned the party not to drag its feet on the matter, and that it would be foolish of the party to declare a stand in favour or against divorce, as it would subject both leader, government and party to the consequences of a yes vote, be it in parliament or by referendum.

Pullicino Orlando stressed that a position against divorce by the PN would be tantamount to a position against what many consider to be a basic civil right, it was the party’s responsibility to ensure equality to all levels of society.

If the PN declared itself against divorce, it would be subjecting itself to further complications, especially when it had accepted candidates like Georg Sapiano and Edward Demicoli who have openly declared themselves in favour of divorce.

He asked if such candidates would be excluded from the party should a formal stand against divorce be taken.