Resolution accepted at the 13th EGP Council, Tallinn, Estonia, October 8-10, 2010
This conference finds it unacceptable that the Maltese state is discriminating against Maltese couples who are unable to seek divorce overseas (such divorces obtained abroad are recognised by the Maltese state) but, even more so, because divorce is a basic civil right for people who wish to reconstitute their family life through remarriage.
The European Green Parties, gathered for the 13th Council meeting in Talinn, Estonia, express their full support for Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party in their ceaseless efforts to end the discrimination against Maltese residents who cannot rebuild their lives after the failure of their marriage, due to the impossibility of obtaining a divorce in Malta.
This Council notes that only Alternattiva Demokratika has been crystal clear and frank with the electorate and has proposed a divorce provision to the Marriage Act in all its electoral programmes and manifestos since 1992. Furthermore, this Council notes that the governmental Nationalist parliamentary group is refusing to read the signs of the times, and is therefore burying its head in the sand on such important issues as divorce. The opposition Labour Party, on the other hand, is adopting a 'catch-all' approach by trying to please everyone at the same time. It is more than evident that the Labourite proposal for a free-vote in parliament on divorce, not now, but only after the elections of 2013, and only if in government, will be defeated due to the opposition of certain Labour MPs.
This conference finds it unacceptable that the Maltese state is discriminating against Maltese couples who are unable to seek divorce overseas (such divorces obtained abroad are recognised by the Maltese state) but, even more so, because divorce is a basic civil right for people who wish to reconstitute their family life through remarriage.
This conference encourages the Maltese electorate to make good use of the instruments of democracy and to vote for the party which has constantly been crystal clear and honest with the electorate. Change is only brought about through voting for it.
The European Green Party pledges to keep monitoring the anomalous situation in Malta, the only country of the 27 EU member states that denies its citizens, and other EU citizens resident in Malta, such a basic civil right as divorce.
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