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MT 22 January 2017

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 JANUARY 2017 News MIRIAM DALLI MOST media houses yesterday hurried off to Mdina's Bacchus restaurant where the embattled education minister Evarist Barto- lo – currently fending off allega- tions of abuse at the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools – and former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando announced they were holding court. The reason? To talk about "so- cio-political developments"… a bizarre topic for the reunion of divorce campaigners Bartolo and Pullicino Orlando, the latter hav- ing broken ranks with the Na- tionalist Party in 2012. Fast forward five years and Bar- tolo and Pullicino Orlando, today chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, are talking about Pope Francis's ex- hortation Amoris Laetitia – a post-synodal document in which the Roman pontiff is allowing divorced Catholics to be granted the sacrament of communion. Bartolo started off, recall- ing how the divorce referendum campaign had brought together people from all walks of life and with different political beliefs. He drew comparisons between the 'No' campaigners who at the time had claimed 'Yes' support- ers would "burn in hell" and the recent change in the Pope's approach towards divorced or separated persons. "The Pope's exhortation makes it easier, and more humane, so that divorced and separated persons can con- tinue to feel part of the Church," the Education Minister said, add- ing that Maltese society was be- coming "more humane". But as Pullicino Orlando took over the press conference, it be- came increasingly clear that his focus would be Simon Busuttil and the Nationalist Party, as the gear shifted from papal exhor- tations to PN admonishment, and journalists gave each other knowing looks. He stated that the coalition which Eddie Fenech Adami had built in the 1980s had been dis- solved by the time Lawrence Gonzi came to face the electorate in 2013 – "as a result of the di- vorce campaign" which he kick- started with his private member's bill he filed in 2011. "The conservative base shut itself in an ivory tower, leading to the historical loss of the 2013 elections… they wanted to con- solidate the hardcore base," Pul- licino Orlando said as he gave his analysis of the PN. "There has been an interesting political development: you can be an idealist but when you're elect- ed leader, you want your party to win the elections. Simon Busut- til is trying to widen the PN vote base and move beyond the Religio et Patria which Gonzi so strongly believed in. Now, he's moving be- yond that, even beyond the liber- als and inviting in libertarians, bordering on the anarchic." With the recent attacks against PN deputy leader Mario de Mar- co – albeit the PN has insisted on its internal unity – Pullicino Or- lando said Simon Busuttil risked losing "the old guard". He dubbed the Malta Independ- ent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia – one of his keen perse- cutors – "the PN's spokesperson", and said the party was allowing attacks against de Marco despite his health problems having been public. But what's the connection, Mal- taToday asked 'JPO', on the papal reforms and Busuttil's political direction? "I felt I had to comment on the PN's direction… Evarist felt strongly about what the Maltese bishops have done recently," Pul- licino Orlando insisted. The PN was quick to dub the press conference a deviation for Evarist Bartolo from the FTS al- legations, which he said was "ab- solutely ridiculous". "I don't accept it. It's a press conference. Whoever wants to keep up this campaign, to keep up the attack about events that happened before the 2013 elec- tion… I have already given my version of events in the House of Representatives on the allega- tions being made on events after 2013." Questioned by the press, Pul- licino Orlando said that he had been approached to contest the upcoming elections on a Labour ticket but he had no intention of doing so. From Pope's bold reforms to tirade against Simon Busuttil, JPO and Bartolo's bizarre Q&A Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Evarist Bartolo: Saturday is a good day to get some press coverage

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