The European Parliament on Thursday voted on another resolution expressing its concern on the state of the rule of law in Malta, but curiously, it included a clause calling for abortion access in the country.
The resolution was meant to mark the sixth anniversary of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, with MEPs saying they were “appalled” at Prime Minister Robert Abela’s dismissive reaction to the driving test scandal. They called for the country to act swiftly and diligently on corruption and deliver justice.
However, their resolution also called on Malta to “finally enshrine the right to safe and legal abortion”, among paragraphs that mostly spoke about reform, justice and the fight against corruption.
According to EU insiders, this wouldn’t be the first time that a line on abortion has found its way into a resolution that it has little to with.
In Malta, where the issue is still politically divisive, its inclusion can be seen as a diversion from the bigger picture.
“An abortion reference is completely out of place in this text. In this case, it was PL MEP Cyrus Engerer, negotiating on behalf of the S&D, who pushed the abortion reference,” PN MEP David Casa said.
“This was intended as a distraction to shift focus from the criminality that continues to engulf the Labour government.”
When voting on a resolution, MEPs cast an individual vote on every clause it contains. Casa voted for the resolution but against the clause on abortion.
Labour MEPs Alex Agius Saliba and Josianne Cutajar were the only members of the S&D group to vote against the resolution, however, while Saliba voted against the abortion clause, Cutajar did not cast her vote on it.
Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer left without voting while Alfred Sant did not attend the sitting.
“It is farcical that Alex Agius Saliba then went on to attack the text pretending not to be aware that it was his Maltese colleague in their delegation who secured it. It is all the more farcical that out of four PL MEPs, he was the only one to vote against abortion this week,” Casa continued.
'Only the Maltese can decide to change anything'
He added that only the Maltese can decide to change anything about the country’s stance on abortion.
“The PN is clear on this point, as am I – we are in favour of life and I will vote against references to abortion wherever it crops up,” Casa said.
Speaking to Times of Malta, Engerer contradicted the interpretation that the abortion clause is unrelated to the rule of law.
The EP’s committee on civil liberties and justice, LIBE, views backsliding civil rights as part of the process of a failing rule of law, he explained.
“The LIBE committee has, rightly, always taken the view that human rights are a fundamental aspect of the rule of law,” Engerer said.
“The structure we created for monitoring purposes is called the “Democracy, Rule of Law & Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group” and sees that there is a direct link between the rule of law in a country and the structure and mechanisms in place to safeguard human rights.”
The LIBE committee has, rightly, always taken the view that human rights are a fundamental aspect of the rule of law- PL MEP Cyrus Engerer
There are certainly examples of this in Europe. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán’s premiership has seen policies on migrants and asylum seekers constantly degrading, with the government also cracking down on the free press.
And as Poland declares swathes of the country as “LGBT-free zones”, the way its government and judiciary work has increasingly come under scrutiny and criticism for undermining the rule of law in the country.
Engerer said that it was Renew MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld who proposed the addition of the clause in the resolution, which found the backing from all of the other political groups.
“Articles on civil liberties in Rule of Law reports on various countries are a norm. On behalf of S&D, I have in the past negotiated Rule of Law-related resolutions on Slovenia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, which always had a strong section on civil liberties,” he added.
“As for my position, my previous work and votes on rule-of-law resolutions, civil liberties resolutions and my speech of this week speak for themselves.”