New cohabitation law to be presented in Parliament by end of year

He was taking part during a one-hour interview on the Nationalist Party radio station Radio 101 this morning. “This is a decision that we should leave in the hands of the electorate, and not discuss it in Parliament,” he insisted.

Gonzi has left open the issue of whether to hold a specific referendum on divorce or include it the electoral manifesto of the PN for the next general elections. “Now on the form of that electoral consensus required, that can be decided,” he said.

“We needed to do a discussion on divorce, because whenever we discuss divorce, we discuss the family,” Gonzi said. “We must recognise that while there are families that are doing well, there are others which were not doing well”.

The PN leader reiterated his mantra that he was not in politics “to throw problems under the carpet”.

But the real problem, he claimed, was “the family and what to do when problems arise”

Gonzi recognised that in the PN “there are people with divergent views, but at the end we have to take a decision”.

The family was a jewel which was “precious.  “Those countries which have introduced divorce have now gone back to review their laws because divorce has been dished out ‘bhall-mejda tal-qubbajd’”, he claimed. Gonzi also added that introduction of divorce was “the path of least resistance.

Gonzi explained how he had been branded as a “Catholic; that makes me honour because of the values that I espouse.”

He said that he disagreed with the PL’s position on divorce.  “Muscat does not have the electoral mandate to introduce divorce,” Gonzi claimed.

“Jeffery is also making an argument in favour of the family as there are families which are facing particular problems,” the PN leader said.

Gonzi also revealed that during a wedding, a couple made the argument while divorce should be introduced.

He explained how the family can be helped by guaranteeing stable employment for all its members. At the same time, one should also offer child-care centres for working parents.  There are also families that were working on reduced hours.

Another measure taken by the PN Government was the reduction in income tax for mothers who returned back to work after having a child.

Gonzi also addressed the issue of cohabitation during his interview.  “Divorce presumes that there is a marriage.  There are those who do not even want to enter into a marriage and simply cohabit,” he claimed.

The PN had “a clear mandate on cohabitation."  He also announced that bill on cohabitation would be presented in Parliament at the end of this year.

He appealed to employers to give more opportunities to those people who are aged 50 and over.  "With the EU Green Paper on Pensions, we are envisaging that people would remain employed till 70,” Gonzi explained.

Addressing the rejection of the ST collective agreement by workers on Friday, Gonzi did not mince his words. “I hope that the workers appreciated the work done by Government with ST during the past two years."

He said he was “sure the GWU has explained to ST workers the situation. We have found the solutions. I do not hope that there will be those who want to sabotage them,” he insisted.

The workers at Kirkop should “understand everyday” that in a globalised world they were competing with the plant in Shenzen.  He called on the GWU “to show leadership” on the matter.

Gonzi again defended the White Rocks project. When the White Rocks tender had been originally issued in 2003, it was limited only to tourism development.  The original investment proposed at the time was Lm15m, which eventually went up to Lm25m “It looks like everybody is happy with €60 million investment”, Gonzi claimed.

The sports village would be offering a home for some 40 disciplines. “From where will we get the other €25 million that we need to maintain them?,” he asked.

Gonzi also boasted about the 71% increase in cruise liner passenger in May 2010 compared to last year. These cruise liners were not counted as part of the tourism count.  “They only enter for an day on the cruise liner and just that.  What do they actually leave in the coffers of the Maltese?” Gonzi asked.

Gonzi explained how a holiday in Tunis cost “half as much” as in Malta, but Tunis did not offer the cultural attractions that Malta had.

Ealier, speaking about migration, Gonzi explained how the repatriation agreement between Italy and Libya meant that in the past six months, the number of illegal immigrants landing in Malta reduced substantially.

“Therefore the EU should negotiate the same type of agreement with Libya to cover all EU Member States such as Malta,” Gonzi insisted.

However, we had to look at the long-term causes of migration. “We should do our best to ensure that the millions of dollars and euros that were being given as development aid by the EU and other international organisations are used really to improve the economic situation of these countries,” Gonzi insisted

During the meetings with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, they also discussed the FRONTEX mission, which Malta had stopped, and the repatriation of immigrants which did not have any right for protection.

The commercial relationship between Malta and Italy had improved “significantly” over the past few years, with the investment of Palumbo at MDD, Italian investment in Tug Malta, Gonzi concluded.