Divorce and remarriage ‘a political priority in Malta’ – George Abela
Matthew Vella President George Abela yesterday made one of his first pronouncements on marriage and family, where he said the issue of divorce required the need to “take stock of the situation and to take decisions regarding family law in Malta.”
He was addressing the Doha Colloquium on ‘Strengthening Marriage And Family’ at the Presidential Palace, in Valletta.
Referring specifically to the issue of separated spouses setting up their own families with other partners, Abela asked whether the term ‘family’ should be used only where a couple is officially married.
“Or are we to consider stable unions also to fall within the definition of a family?... I believe an answer to this question has become a political priority in Malta.”
He went on to ask whether the law should recognise unions outside marriage, and whether cohabiting partners should be given rights akin to marital rights on maintenance, succession rights and other personal rights.
“Given that it is impossible for such cohabiting couples to marry even had they wanted to, and given that a divorce legitimately obtained abroad is recognised under Maltese Law, such a situation has been discarded by some commentators as unfair. This situation has also been among the arguments in favour of the enactment of a law on divorce and the consequent right to remarry, which some argue militates in favour of the family because it decreases cohabitation by giving rise to new families in marriage,” Abela said.
The President stuck to a traditionalist definition of marriage throughout his address, when he referred to the family as being “clearly understood [to be] composed of two married parents, a male and a female, together with their offspring.”
He added that marriage was “the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others voluntarily entered into for life with an openness to the gift of children… So marriage does not mean relationships which involve two men or two women or a variety of other possibilities,” Abela declared.
He said marriage had beneficial social and health effects for both adults and children, and that married-parent families had a greater chance to contribute “to safer and better communities with less substance abuse and crime among young people, as well as less poverty and welfare dependency.”
He said the national curriculum should include education on marriage so that the importance of marriage can be “inculcated into young citizens’ minds from an early age. Young people may sometimes be imbibed with ideas derived from the media which do not always present the realities of married life in their proper perspective and this may lead to disillusionment when they are themselves married and trying to form a viable family.”
The President dispelled notions that the increase in broken marriages had affected marital bonds. Quoting data from the National Statistics Office, he said only 5.65% of married couples were officially separated.
“But at the same time the Maltese family is facing one of its greatest tests. It is undergoing rapid social changes, greatly influenced by current Western world lifestyles and the ever-increasing secularization of the Maltese society. The Maltese traditional family model is changing. We are witnessing an increase in the number of working mothers, which undoubtedly puts new pressures on the family. This raises the question as to whether the strong family values of marriage and fidelity, child-bearing and rearing and the family bond will continue to resist the daunting challenges ahead,” Abela said.
Quoting unqualified references, Abela said “studies have constantly shown that children raised outside marriage suffer disproportionately from physical and mental illness; more likely to drop out of school; abuse drugs or alcohol and engage in violence or suffer it in their homes and they are less likely to attend higher educational institutions.”
He momentarily toned down his discourse when he referred to the “many hard-working single parents” who do “an excellent job in raising children.”
“They need our support too. But when a family with children breaks down, there are always negative outcomes for children, depending on their age... From a child’s perspective, the unimaginable has happened – a parent is no longer at home. Children may be deeply afraid that the other parent is going to “disappear” too and leave them alone in the world.”
Abela also ventured some suggestions for the strengthening of the family unit, such as the creation of a Commissioner for the Family and the setting up of an Inter-Ministerial Committee, and more financial assistance and fiscal incentives.
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