Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1281593
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 AUGUST 2020 INTERVIEW acknowledge it. You say that you're not an 'ab- solutist': however, during the divorce referendum campaign you were one of the first to ap- pear on TV arguing against the introduction of divorce. Wasn't that an absolutist stance to take, at the time? In 2011, I was actually one of the last people who started talk- ing about that issue. I wasn't part of the official campaign; and it was only in the last few weeks that I was asked to express my opinion on the subject. I had my own opinion; I had no problem expressing that opinion. But with the introduction of di- vorce, as far as I am concerned the case was closed. From that point on, I eventually found my- self facing people who needed to resort to divorce proceedings; and I had no problem help- ing them in that regard. As you know, I work as a family lawyer; so inevitably, such cases came to be an integral part of my profes- sion. But the moment the decision was taken by means of a referen- dum, the chapter was closed. Nonetheless, there are other issues today which are also viewed as matters of unmova- ble political principle... such as abortion. You yourself are cer- tainly not in favour of abortion; but when you were asked about it in an interview, you said that you 'can't close the door to dis- cussion'. How do you explain that answer? It pleases me to note that you are so certain, and emphatic, that I am not in favour of abor- tion. I am sure that everyone agrees that human life has a val- ue; and therefore – even because of my Christian beliefs - I cer- tainly cannot be in favour of the killing of a life. Let us not forget that even the PN statute also specifies that life must be defended 'from concep- tion until death'. So I have no problem stating that I, as Ber- nard Grech, am against abor- tion. But when we say this, and just stop there… it means that we are either unwilling to listen, or sim- ply not paying attention, to the people who really are passing through that trauma. So yes: I am ready to listen to those people. Because if we ig- nore those people, we cannot improve their situation. We can- not really defend life. To me, it is hypocritical to say 'I am against abortion', when we know that there are people who are go- ing abroad to have abortions in other countries. To be 'against abortion' is only a matter of make-believe, when we all know that abortions are happening an- yway. This is another reason why it is so important to place the indi- vidual human being at the centre of politics. We have to listen to the people who are experienc- ing those circumstances - the mother, the father, and even the extended family – if we are go- ing to truly implement policies, and strengthen services, so that the people involved get the help they need. It is all well and good to talk about 'putting people at the heart of politics'… but trans- lating those words into actions in another matter. How, for in- stance, do you intend to imple- ment that vision when it comes to an issue like immigration? What, in fact, is your position on this issue? I think I've already answered that, in principle. You cannot, on the one hand, claim to want to defend human life from concep- tion until death; but then, when it comes to immigration, argue that we should let these people drown. We cannot be hypo- crites. We either believe in the value of life, or not. But then, if we are going to put people at the forefront of poli- tics… even those who are living in fear in their own homes are people. Or those who may feel uncomfortable going to certain places: for instance, elderly res- idents in certain villages or lo- calities, who may be afraid to go to mass, or to go out shopping. These are people, too. That is why it is so important to strike a balance. But we have to also bear in mind that, for the last seven years, we have had a Labour government that was actually inviting immi- grants into the country. It was almost begging immigrants to come here; because 'immigrants' are not only those who cross the Mediterranean by boat. They al- so come from Bulgaria and the rest of the EU; or from non-EU countries such as India, Pakistan or Bangladesh; and these were all invited to Malta, to boost the economy by increasing the pop- ulation. And in some cases, they were needed because of labour short- ages in certain areas. But it doesn't mean that today, to solve the problem, we have to get rid of those people: because a sud- den reduction in numbers will collapse the economy. The situation today, however, is that unfortunately – even be- cause of COVID-19 – national consumption has gone down; and as a result, many of these people are now increasingly per- ceived to be redundant: either because they're unemployed, or because they're seen loitering here and there… so they end up creating problems within our communities. But the solution is not to just discard those people, or some- how 'get rid of them'. Human beings are human beings… whether they are black or white. I will not hold back from saying this: people are described as 'rac- ist' because they look no further than the colour of a person's skin. But when we identify oth- ers this way, it doesn't mean we are necessarily 'racist'. The im- portant thing is that we do not allow skin colour to become a barrier. At the end of the day, everyone has the same colour of blood running in their veins. Everyone is human; and everyone has a right to dignity. PHOTO BY JAMES BIANCHI "I feel I have an advantage, in the sense that I look upon the Bible – and don't get the wrong impression; it's not as though I read it every day - but to me, the Bible, and especially the Gospel, is a manual that can be referred to when in doubt"