The title of this piece is a concept alien to Malta, from the very top all the way to the bottom.

“I have told you three times. The law will be signed,” barked President George Vella at Times of Malta journalist Jacob Borg who had the temerity to ask him whether he would sign the new IVF law.

Andrew Azzopardi too tried to get a straight answer from the president. Who will sign the law, asked Azzopardi. “Let’s not go into that argument,” Vella insisted.

The new IVF law allows for genetic testing before a fertilised egg is implanted in a woman’s womb. That is something that is a moral dilemma for people who argue that choosing between fertilised eggs is not very different from eugenics.

They see preimplantation genetic testing as devaluing human life, throwing away, even freezing, ‘undesirables’ and ‘rejects’.

These people believe that, if we shall now be screening for certain traits, this devalues the very life of those who have already been born with those traits, rubbishing the ‘solidarity’ we so fantastically delude ourselves to be one of our main characteristics.

The president is obviously against preimplantation genetic testing. The difference between the president and all other people who agree with him is that Vella has the important constitutional role of signing the law, for it to be enacted and to come into effect.

What would be the right thing for Vella to do facing such an ethical dilemma? The only correct thing would be for him to have, and show, the courage of his convictions and to take the hugely honourable step of resigning.

Whether one agrees or not with the law as approved by the House of Representatives, we would all admire Vella’s ethical courage, without imposing his opinion on others, as he would have resigned, thus triggering the election of another president.

Not that Vella doesn’t know what the right thing to do is. Only a year ago, in May 2021, asked by journalists about abortion, he set out the only correct thing to do were he to be presented with a law with which he disagreed: “I cannot stop the executive from deciding, that is up to parliament. But I do have the liberty, if I don’t agree with a bill, to resign and go home. I have no problem doing this.”

Those were just nice theoretical words 400 days ago. Reality has now intruded into Vella’s words. What has, in fact, happened now is a typically Maltese ethical balbuljata, which shows why Malta increasingly has no idea of right, wrong and ethical behaviour, from the very top all the way to the bottom.

Already five weeks before the new IVF law could even land on the president’s desk for signature, Robert Abela summarily removed Dolores Cristina from the functions of acting president.

The only correct thing to do would be for George Vella to show the courage of his convictions and take the hugely honourable step of resigning- Eddie Aquilina

Coming from Abela, whose father was appointed by a Nationalist government as President of Malta (not just acting), this was the height of insult to the very decency Lawrence Gonzi had shown in 2009.

It was also insulting to the concept of “consultation” that our constitution requires when such posts are to be filled. Abela’s letter to the leader of the opposition was just an information letter announcing the choice of Frank Bezzina as the new acting president.

Abela’s machinations five weeks ago to get the IVF law past the president had already shown what Abela thought of Vella’s ethics or lack thereof. Vella would make sure he’d be oh so very conveniently abroad or absent when the approved bill landed on his desk, so that it could be signed by the acting president.

The little problem of Cristina leaving the approved bill on the president’s desk awaiting Vella’s return would be easily solved by removing her and appointing in her stead someone who has been raking in his share of political appointments and contracts under Labour.

Abela’s machinations are no surprise. But for Vella to substitute convenience for conviction is a new low for this country.

To Borg and Azzopardi’s direct questions as to whether he would sign the genetic testing law, Vella should have answered courageously and clearly: “I shall not sign that law, as it goes against my deeply held principles and I’ll therefore tender my resignation.”

Instead, he barked all the way down to the convenience of having his cake and eating it: “Let’s not go into that argument… I have already told you three times… the law will be signed.”