AD joins call for re-evaluation of Church-State concordat
Alternattiva Demokratika reiterates call for reassessment of Malta’s Church-State agreement.
The Green Party has welcomed a statement by Labour MP Luciano Busuttil calling for the reassessment of the 1993 Church-State concordant, which regulates the Church’s power over the civil courts in marital annulments.
AD chairperson Michael Briguglio said the divorce referendum, in which 53% approved a divorce law, should lead to a reevaluation of the agreement if Malta is to move “closer to pluralistic, progressive and liberal societies.”
Prof Arnold Cassola, AD spokesperson for EU and International Affairs, said Malta’s 2004 membership of the EU was a declaration of a membership in a political community of a secular nature, “that respects all religious sentiments with great tolerance, but insists that the separation between politics and religion is a fundamental principle.
“The situation in Malta today betrays the spirit on which the EU is founded,” Cassola said.
Labour candidate Deborah Schembri has also called for an end to the power granted to the Church's ecclesiastical tribunal over civil proceedings in marital annulments. The former chairperson of the divorce movement said the power of Church tribunals was part of the "lopsided" agreement between the Church and State signed in 1993.
