Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1464183
NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 APRIL 2022 5 EUROPA EXPERIENCE VALLETTA e European Parliament is looking for premises, for sale or to rent, to house a multimedia space open to visitors in Valletta. e exhibition space should be located in an area with high pedestrian footfall in the city centre. e estimated area required is approximately 750 m2, with a minimum of 80 m2 on the ground floor. Interested property owners and/or their representatives, including real estate agencies and property developers, are invited to submit their details by 02 May 2022 by email marked 'Valetta prospecting' to the following address: inlo.ueepi@europarl.europa.eu LAUR A CALLEJA LAST year, former independ- ent MP Marlene Farrugia presented a historic bill to de- criminalise abortion, but all bills presented during the pre- vious admiration will not have to be resubmitted after the last election. As it stands, without Farru- gia in parliament, no MP has so far indicated whether they would come forward to resub- mit the Bill. Farrugia's reasoning for presenting the bill was that the COVID-19 pandem- ic had allowed her to reflect on the health struggles faced by women, saying that Mal- ta needs better awareness of women's needs in today's so- ciety, including medical and sexual education needs, to increase the quality of life among women in Malta. "I see no conflict between pro-life and pro-choice. For me, this division be- tween pro-life and pro- choice was created to divide women. The aim should be singular: to create a re- Abortion: what happens to Farrugia's decriminalisation bill? "The way forward is for there to be an outcry in the streets; for women's movements to unite and come together. It is only then that parliament will start to take notice." It's all back to square one for the pro-choice movement's bid to shake up the political establishment al choice for women on how they live their life. To create a real choice on how women determine the passage of their life at different stages," she said after presenting the bill back in May 2021. The question is: what happens to the bill now? Speaking to MaltaTo- day, Farrugia said he found it difficult to be- lieve that anyone elected would cross swords with their own party to take patronage of the bill. Farrugia said she could only see the bill being resubmitted if one of the two major parties changed their mind. "But so far from what we have seen, both parties seem to be dead set on not d e c r i m i n a l i s i n g awbortion in the last electoral campaign," she said. F a r r u g i a said that even the wom- en elected and yet to be co-opted to the house under gender quotas, will not cross party lines. "They are afraid of be- ing persecuted. They are afraid of being sidelined and treated as looneys if they stand up to be counted. Right now, it's still considered a 'death sentence' for one's career to support abortion. "In the British parlia- ment for example we see cross-party voting all the time. However, it remains one of the biggest taboos in Malta." Farrugia said that be- fore the abortion bill can once again gain traction in the House, it wil have to be Maltese society that must first realise that de- crimalisation is not the promotion of abortion – but that it factors into the wider remit of protecting women. "The way for- ward is for there to be an outcry in the streets; for women's movements to unite and come together. It is only then that par- liament will start to take notice," she said. And she also added that timing is of the essence. "I can't see decrimalisa- tion of abortion happen- ing under a Nationalist government – so really the time to do it is now during Labour party in government." The former MP also pointed out the long- standing opposition to abortion by President George Vella, who has said he would resign be- fore signing such a law into force "The president has said he would not sign the bill in no uncer- tain terms. So, if Labour changes tack, what hap- pens? For Labour to go down this road, it would require a change in pres- ident. That is something to think about also." course," Attard said. Attard was appointed justice minister by Prime Minister Rob- ert Abela after the election, tak- ing over from Edward Zammit Lewis who was left out of Cabi- net. All work pending before par- liament comes to a natural end once the House is dissolved, in- cluding work before the commit- tees. Any law the government feels should be tabled again will have to pass through the legislative process afresh, starting from the First Reading. Parliament will only be able to convene once the electoral pro- cess comes to an end on Tues- day when casual elections will be held to fill seats vacated by dual-candidacy Nationalist MPs. Casual elections to fill vacan- cies created by Labour MPs who were elected on two districts were held last Thursday. After the casual elections, the Electoral Commission will ap- ply the gender corrective mech- anism to elect 12 more female MPs bringing the electoral pro- cess to an end. It is very likely that the first ses- sion of parliament will be held after Easter.