Change position or drink that hemlock
Now that the electorate has voted for divorce legislation and this divorce legislation will soon come to pass, the Nationalist Party has to do one thing immediately: write off its anti-divorce position.
Or are we now to take it that the party has a conscience too?
It seems the delicate subject was brought up during a meeting of the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group (that means PN MPs) last Monday, and the prime minister said that this is “something to consider eventually but not just yet” (The Times, today).
Something to consider? Eventually?
Where does this block-headed intransigence come from – a mutant Alfred Sant/Labour gene?
The Labour Party has suffered for the last eight years because we still don’t know whether it’s actually changed its position on EU membership. Joseph Muscat acknowledged -very late – that with hindsight he realises that the Yes vote won the referendum. He says from time to time that EU membership “is a given”, which is not the same thing as saying that the Labour Party acknowledges that it has been extremely beneficial for Malta and the Maltese (but especially for Joseph Muscat).
And it remains obvious that its shadow foreign minister, George Vella, remains deeply antagonistic to the whole idea, let alone the reality, of EU membership. Yet he will be foreign minister.
Does the Nationalist Party want to be burdened the same way with its reluctance to acknowledge that it was wrong about divorce legislation?
I trust that it is not comtemplating going to the polls in 2013 with a position against divorce. Majtezwel drink that hemlock right now.
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The more time passes, the more I feel that the current PN under Lawrence Gonzi’s administration is too reluctant to take any drastic decisions. With comments such as ‘divorce will eventually be introduced in Malta, but now is not yet the time’, ‘something to consider eventually but not just yet’ (regarding position on divorce), and fence-sitting on LGBT issues etc., it seems that the PM (and a significant chunk of the PN) does not want to take radically conservative stances while at the same time not wanting to be responsible for implementing such changes.
This attitude is still backfiring though, as the PN is still being viewed as an anachronistic anomaly of a government (and a party) when it comes to social issues.
Tonio Fenech, Tonio Borg, Giovanna Debono and Edwin Vassallo (to name a few) do not help exorcise this impression. Furthermore, just because you don’t say something, does not mean people cannot read between the lines.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein
Our future depends on how Lawrence Gonzi will vote in Parliament on the divorce legislation. If it is a No then we are doomed and with a Yes we might have a greater chance of doing well in the next general elections.
I feel sorry for him.
He went on about ‘no divorce on his watch’ and now he has to put his principles on one side and vote yes or be seen as undemocratic.
He gambled and lost.
Poor bloke.
I think Gonzi is a good man but a lousy prime minister.
I disagree. He has proven to be a good prime minister so far, but he has misjudged the divorce issue every step of the way.
His poor judgement is literally handing victory on a plate to Joseph Muscat at the next elections. Unfortunately Gonzi is sinking and it’s clear he wants to take the party with him, including the future of Maltese politics in people like Cyrus Engerer and Karl Gouder.