Malta Updated Its Marriage Laws But It Still Won’t Allow This Man To Change His Surname
Michael Debono Mrđen with his Croatian wife Viktoria
The passing of the Marriage Equality Law last year was supposed to end all sorts of marriage discrimination in Malta, and yet citizens are still not allowed to register foreign letters in their surnames.
It is an anomaly that Michael Debono stumbled upon when he married a Croatian woman in her home country and officially merged his surname with hers, becoming Michael Debono Mrđen.
However, when he registered his marriage in Malta, he realised to his displeasure that he was not allowed to transpose the third letter of his wife’s maiden name, the Croatian dyet (đ), and that the Maltese authorities would therefore recognise him as Michael Debono Mrden.
“I have been informed that the Public Registry is the process of acquiring new software that would allow letters like đ to be recognised as they are supposed to,” he wrote to Identity Malta last year. “However, it seems as though the local legislator only intends to open this software up to Maltese letters and completely ignore foreign ones, even if they are included in the surnames of Maltese citizens.”
The Public Registry refused Michael Debono Mrđen’s surname request
“This situation creates inconveniences as a result of inconsistencies between my official documents in Malta and Croatia, inconveniences which will be passed on to any future children we may have. I humbly feel as though my country is severely breaching my right to form a family as is set in the Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights, not to mention that it is disrespecting my wife, her family and the Croatian state.”
“While I understand it may not be possible to allow letters in Greek, Arabic and Russian scripts, it is unacceptable to disallow foreign Latin letters. I am ready to take all necessary measures to protect the integrity of my surname, including legal action in Malta and the EU.”
Identity Malta eventually got back to Debono Mrđen, only to declare his request as inadmissible on the grounds that the marriage registration certificate, as set in the Civil Code, is in Maltese with an English translation.
“The letter dyet doesn’t exist in either the Maltese or English language,” an official said. “In practice, people with accented letters in their surnames translate their surnames, taking into account the phonetic sound of that letter.”
However, Debono Mrđen is ready to legally challenge the Maltese authorities on this one, arguing he had no such problem when he moved to Germany and registered his marriage there.
“I see this the same as though they were naming me Nichael instead of Michael,” he explained.
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