Proposed legislation to mainstream equality across all levels of Maltese society will no longer be ‘one law to rule them all’.

Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has accepted a compromise, dropping a clause from the Bill which would have made it supreme to all laws of the land, except the Constitution, the European Convention Act and any future Act of Parliament which amends the law.

This supremacy clause would have allowed a new Equality Board to instantly amend any present or future laws it deems discriminatory. For example, it could have well stepped in to amend the notarial laws which so far require women, but not men, to disclose their civil status in notarial deeds.

However, the Bill’s critics warned the clause could create unwanted side effects. Former EU Commissioner Tonio Borg has postulated that people will be able to appeal for the legalisation of abortion on the grounds of discrimination based on social origin, ie. “Rich people can get an abortion in the UK but poorer people cannot, therefore the lack of abortion in Malta is discriminatory”, and that homosexual couples will be able to appeal for the legalisation of surrogacy on the grounds that the current IVF laws discriminate against them.

The Medical Association of Malta has warned that doctors will risk getting sued if they refuse to provide euthanasia, while the Pharmacy Council has claimed it will reduce pharmacists to robots, unable to take decisions according to their conscience.

And although the government had so far resisted these arguments, it has now agreed to drop this clause, meaning any discriminatory laws will have to be challenged at court or amended by the government.

What do you make of this development?