Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1518643
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 APRIL 2024 7 INTERVIEW The following are excerpts from the interview. The full interview can be found on maltatoday.com.mt as well as our Facebook and Spotify pages. Scan this QR code to see the full interview. In your 2021 speech, and in your inaugural speech as President, you mentioned Daphne Caruana Galizia. Do you think we are working towards justice for her? Something good must come out of her death. And I believe strongly that the me- dia, when it does its job well, when it scruti- nises and serves as the voice of minorities, needs to be recognised as the fourth pillar of democracy. We need formal recognition. In the Constition? Exactly, exactly. But do you think we are moving towards justice for Daphne? More needs to be done. The best tribute that we can pay for Daphne's life is to build the foundations so that whoever has the same profession she had can feel protected by the democratic set-up of our country. You predecessor insisted heavily on constitutional reform. Firstly, do you feel that the Constitution needs reforming? Our Constitution has served us well. When we had to arrange it, we did so. We fixed the issue of parliamentary representation when there are more votes and fewer seats; recently after the Venice Commission we revised how the president is elected and how the chief justice is appointed. A lot of things have been amended. But you need to make sure that, when you do change the Constitution, you change it for the bet- ter, not just for the sake of changing it. His excellency George Vella did a lot of work... but the issue he found was that there wasn't agreement on who should lead the con- vention. I need to see exactly... Do you think you'll man- age to bring the two main parties together to agree on constitutional reform? I will try, obviously I will try. Because there are some, even among the public, who want to see certain changes. However, it's important to have agreement on the per- son, or persons, who will lead the conven- tion. If we can't even agree on a person to lead, what does it augur for the agreement needed to reach consensus on certain pro- posed changes. That's cardinal. On some- thing like this, it's not about the will of the president but the will to agree. Because eventually, for the amendments to be put into force, they need to agree. In your inaugural speech you mentioned neutrality. Malta is a neutral state, but in the framework of the EU, and within the context of in- creased emphasis on defence and military spending, do you think that Malta could face a problem? The problem is that when you have an arsenal of armaments, instead of serving as a deterrent to those threatening your sovereignty, it becomes almost an invita- tion, especially if your arsenal is not strong enough. I believe we need to stick to the letter of the Constitution, not only the spirit, and be neutral while actively being recog- nised as always, always, always insisting on peace. In the 1990s you were pres- ident of Nisa Laburisti, an organisation within the Labour Party that promotes the interests of women. Since your time there, and also as a Labour Party can- didate, do you feel that the role of women in public life has progressed? There has been a lot of progress. The best step forward was when women started entering the workplace. One of the things I always believed in is that women should always look to be financially independent and capable of feeding themselves and their children, without needing to depend on a man. [...] But I'd say one of the best amendments was carried out in 1993, that the man is not automatically considered the head of the family. At the time, most women didn't even know what it meant to hold a bank account in their name. That was one of the best things. For there to be true equity, we need to train even men, and our young boys, to shoulder responsibility in the family, even as fathers. In the last election we used a new mechanism to elect more women in parliament. Do you think this measure is enough? It's never enough. [...] The hope is always that people get used to the fact that wom- en... can be trusted because they are ca- pable of leading as much as men. This has improved, because even in professional services, people go to women profession- als – doctors, lawyers, notaries, architects. This has gotten better over time. But I be- lieve that apart from this, the issue is the balance between work and family, and more so if along with the responsibilities of work and family you have the added weight of contributing to public life. You need support in the family, and not every- one has an extended family to provide that support. Among the president's func- tions is the leadership of the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation and l-Ist- rina. Do you intend chang- ing anything in L-Istrina or the work of the Community Chest Fund? I'm not in a position to respond, as I don't know its set-up, and I don't know what I'm going to find. If there's room to change for the better, or for more efficiency, with the primary aim of helping more, I would try to do so with everyone's help. But the sincere response is that I don't know. PHOTOS: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTA TODAY