Journalism, Politics, Society & the Institutional Set-up

Economist Dr. Cordina (1997), states that the difference of why some countries managed to achieve great success while others did not, was not according to the availability of resources but according to the quality of policy making. He explains that, “Malta was a British colony and inherited the British way of making good policies, Parliamentary democracy, political stability etc.”

With this being said, John Staton (2019) notes a distinct difference when it comes to Maltese and British systems and that Malta’s constitution is weak as it can be easily manipulated.

He argues that, “the Constitution is susceptible to easy change and manipulation by those holding political office, whilst the traditional role of constitutional review, including the power to declare laws void on grounds of constitutional invalidity, has not been fully assumed by the Constitutional Court.

One might argue that a strong Constitution is useless if the country does not have an effective separation of powers. In Malta’s case, the powers are categorised in three; the judiciary, the legislative and the executive.

Malta’s most recent election was held back in 2017 and for the second time in a row, after 25 years in opposition, the Labour Party won the majority votes. The Labour party, or moreso in Malta, is based on socialist ideology meaning fighting for the rights of the lower and middle class, workers and other minority groups in society.

Both during the 12th legislature and the 13th legislature, the Labour Government has tackled issues of such nature, such as legalising marriage, the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and adoption for people belonging in the LGBTIQ+ community and for single women.

Despite this, one can note that when it comes to family and social policies, the government was shy of implementing paternal-oriented policies. An example of this would be the paternity leave or lack thereof after the birth, fostering or legal guardianship of children.

The disregard when it comes to this issue was even noted by the public. So much so that political actors/ pressure group had to intervene to raise awareness and ultimately let the institutions know that society needs to be heard.

A petition was formed on the 29th of June, 2021 by Pauline Borg, a midwife and member of ngo ‘Positive Birth Movement Malta’, (founded in 2012). Nearly two months later this petition had 2,440 signatures.

Under the current Maltese laws, according to subsidiary legislation 452.101, under ‘the minimum special leave entitlement regulations’, fathers are solely entitled to one working day of paternal leave, compared to 18 weeks of maternity leave (14 weeks paid by the employee and four weeks paid by the Government). However, both parents are eligible to parental leave, unpaid, for four months. (up until the child is eight years old).

In addition to this the one working day parental leaves, starts the minute the father leaves the workplace. Hence if the mother of the child gives birth early on in the working hours, the father has to return to work the next day.

The pressure faced by Maltese fathers was also highlighted in a Times of Malta article published a few weeks before the petition closed. The TOM article, published online, mentions a local blogger, on the experience of the birth of his daughter. The article also mentions, through anonymity, a working father that was refused paternity leave, for the reason that he was not married to his partner.

Two months later, on the 27th of October, 2021, the petitions committee within the Parliament of Malta met. Amongst many other petitions were presented. The petitions committee comprises Committee Chairperson Joe Mizzi, Clifton Caruana, Chris Agius, Joseph Ellis and Edwin Vassallo.

Committees within the Parliament were introduced in 1995, after the House of Representatives felt the need of such committees such as the Standing committees, of which petitions committee forms part of.

In the Parliament of Malta there are also Joint committees such as the Joint Committee - Social Affairs Committee and Family Affairs committee. In addition to that there are also the Parliamentary Delegations. “These Committees relieve and facilitate the work in plenary”. (Parliament of Malta, 2019).

One must not forget that the petition was named; ‘Implement Paternity & Parental leave in Malta for fathers and Second parents as per EU directive’. When it comes to the aforementioned directive, this is called the Work life Balanced directive.

Maltese Member of Parliament (MEP) and member of the European Political Party (EPP), David Casa, was lead negotiator of said Directive. This was adopted by the EU on the 13th of June 2019.

When it comes to paternal and paternity leave, MEP Casa has spoken up about the issues on many occasions. In 2019, he also stated that Malta should [have] use[d] its surplus to fund paternity leave.

This directive is set to make its members state adopt these policies:

• 10 working days of Paternity leave;

• A minimum of four months of parental leave, as per parent ( of which two months are non-transferable);

• Five working days of carer’s leave annually;

• It gives the parents/caregivers a right to request employer flexible work arrangements such as: reduced and flexible hours and flexibility in the workplace.

This directive makes it clear that all member states must adopt it by August of 2022, in eight months’ time. However, there was no recollection of such measures included in the annual government budget (published Oct. 2021 for year 2022).

When it comes to the petitions committee, this petition was passed on to the permanent secretary Mark Musu, within the Ministry for Social Justice and Solidarity, the Family and Children’s Rights under the Minister Michael Falzon. In addition to that it was passed onto the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations.

This issue was later picked up by the Opposition Leader Dr. Bernard Grech. First and foremost this was addressed in an interview he did in Għargħur. The PN leader stated that once elected in government he will seek to extend the period of the paternity leave.

“Part of our vision for the family is for every couple that welcomes a new baby to be able to give that child the attention that it needs … We also want to empower new mothers to be able to receive the support that they need from the person with whom they are going to be raising a child”, said Grech at the time.

A few weeks later, this issue was brought up again as part of his budget proposals. In his speech, Grech proposes that instead of the one day paternal leave, this will be extended to 15 days paid by the government, “to bond better with your child”.

The Osgood and Schramm Model of Communication