The AD called a conference yesterday to present its economic strategy to reduce Malta’s deficit and Dr Vassallo said that the PN should not take advantage of this, go off at a tangent and ask unrelated questions.

Although he emphasised that the question had nothing to do with the reason for the conference being called, Dr Vassallo explained that the Green party in the European Parliament, and subsequently AD, has spoken in favour of the decriminalisation of abortion not its legalisation.

The AD chairman went on to say that the Greens had taken their stand in the open, whereas the PN has been implementing this decriminalisation indirectly for the last ten years without ever making it public.

No legal action was ever taken against the 600 Maltese women who had had abortions in England, he said, and therefore this shows that, inadvertently, the government has not only been agreeing with the decriminalisation of abortion but also implementing it. Dr Vassallo echoed this in a statement issued in response to another statement by the PN after hearing the AD’s position on the subject.

After clarifying the party’s position, Dr Vassallo asked if there were any “serious questions” relating to the subject of the conference. Pressed for more on the subject of abortion by NET TV, Dr Vassallo explained that he has challenged Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to hold a press conference on the subject of abortion on the party’s television station. “All will be answered when Dr Gonzi takes up this challenge”, he said. In the statement mentioned earlier, Dr Vassallo said: “The only possible response to the Nationalist Party’s campaign, built on lies and half-truths against a party to which it should be grateful, is legal action.”

Speaking in response to the statement issued by the PN, Dr Vassallo said that in his fifteen years in politics, this is the first time he has accused someone of libel. This was the only solution, he said, in view of the acrimonious and deceptive PN campaign. AD had never agreed with abortion, in Malta or abroad, said the chairman. He explained that AD had made a full contribution to the finalising of the protocol that stipulates that abortion can never be legalised in Malta, which was part of the island’s EU membership negotiations.This scandal is therefore not a result of the AD’s shortcomings, but of a deception by the PN, continued Dr Vassallo. Regardless of what the PN says, the Green party in the European Parliament is simply in favour of the decriminalisation of abortion not its legalisation.

As he pointed out in the conference, Dr Vassallo explained that the government has already been implementing this decriminalisation indirectly. No legal action has been taken against the 600 Maltese women who had abortions in England in the last ten years and therefore there was no basis for this discussion, he said.AD concluded that the PN is being irresponsible and said that by using this pointless argument as propaganda, it risks losing any possibility of support from other political parties.