In a reaction to a story carried on the General Workers’ Union daily l-orizzont, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Malta has been, is and will remain against the introduction of abortion and would not give in to any alleged European Union pressure to introduce it.

In a statement, the ministry said the Maltese government had always insisted that the introduction of abortion could not be imposed by the European Union and that the decision was up to the individual member states. The ministry said abortion was illegal in Malta and Malta has always expressed itself against any form of pressure to introduce it.

On the situation involving Nicaragua, the ministry said Malta proposed to start discussions with the European Union in the light of human rights. It added there was no communication between the EU and Nicaragua on the introduction of abortion and l-orizzont should have checked its facts before misleading and misinforming its readers.