President Myriam Spiteri Debono said that "the Constitution is clear" when asked on her signing of the controversial magisterial inquiry reform bill, implying that she has no choice but to sign it - because that is what the Constitution says.
Spiteri Debono, who is the 11th President of the Republic of Malta, was interviewed by The Malta Independent on Sunday on the occasion of her first anniversary in office, celebrated last Friday.
The anniversary comes in the same week that the government pushed through a controversial bill which severely curtails how a citizen can request a magisterial inquiry. The reform has been roundly criticised by the opposition, civil society, constituted bodies, and legal experts - yet the government has persisted in rushing it through Parliament at record speed.
Asked whether, given the opposition to the bill and the lack of consultation, she felt comfortable signing the bill into law, Spiteri Debono said: "When it comes to laws, the Constitution is clear."
"The words are that the President must sign 'without delay'. Within our legislative framework, the Presidency must sign - it cannot overrule functions which are of another State organ," she added.
Her predecessor George Vella had not shied away from sharing his own misgivings on certain laws: he had said that he had engaged with the government over amendments to the country's abortion laws because he felt the original version was not one he could sign in good conscience.
He had also not signed off on a law pertaining to IVF - leaving it on his desk for two weeks before he went abroad, allowing the then-Acting President Frank Bezzina to sign it in his stead. Some had argued that in doing so, Vella had breached the part of the Constitution which stipulates that the Presidency must sign a law "without delay" - the same part of the Constitution cited by Spiteri Debono.
Another option for Presidents, if they are against a law that is passed in Parliament, is to resign.
Had Spiteri Debono spoken to the government about the contentious reform if she disagreed with it? She implied that it was not her place to do so.
"I do not believe that there is where to get into this argument because the Presidency has certain roles, and other organs of the State have different roles," she said.
Spiteri Debono is no stranger to political tensions: she served as Speaker of Parliament between 1996 and 1998 when Prime Minister Alfred Sant and former Labour Party leader Dom Mintoff went head to head in a clash which resulted in Sant's Labour government coming crashing down.
Today's political tensions, she said when asked about recent happenings in Parliament, is very different to back then.
"Today in Parliament there is, it seems, a lack of empathy between the members of both sides - at least that's what those who are out there feel. People in fact tell me 'it's like they can't even look at each other' - and that hurts me and worries me," she said.
She said that there were far worse scenes years ago which the country has moved forward from, and noted that such behaviour is not isolated to Malta's Parliament - but she added that "one of the things which would be good for all of us is for the language and body language to be moderated a bit."
"We can be a bit cautious in the choice of words to make our arguments. This is very important because from time to time in a country, and ours is no exception and we've been through it, there may be themes and situations which need coordination between both sides," she added.
The last year has been punctuated by several scandals, and asked whether she thinks people are right to expect higher standards of accountability from their representatives, the President replied that the people "definitely do not elect representatives (for them) to go beyond certain behaviour."
"I always believe that while you need the legal safeguards, it has to come from the individual to have a sense of auto-discipline and sense of regulation within the context of values such as integrity, honesty and transparency. It is useless having laws only. First it has to come from the individuals who the people have elected," she said.
Has that happened over the past years? "Let's say that in the last years our country has seen elements which it had not seen before. There were certain situations which I think we would have never expected," she said.
She said that because there are legal cases ongoing it would not be ethical to pass judgment on such things, but she added that as justice must not just be done but must be seen to be done, the same applies for correct behaviour.
"It's not that you just have to be correct in your behaviour; but you must paint the right picture to those out there in what you do. The shadows are ugly. You cannot allow a chance for shadows to appear when it comes to correctness," she said.
Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder a 'wound which will never close'
Asked about the Daphne Caruana Galizia case and whether the wound that her assassination had caused - a wound which she had described as "wide open and bleeding" during her first speech as President - was any nearer to being closed, Spiteri Debono said that it's a wound "which will never close."
She said that there have been murders of journalists in Europe, but in Malta it is even more shocking to society because it is so closely knit.
"I don't think the majority of people ever imagined that a horrible assassination like this would ever happen in our country. When I spoke I felt that I did nothing more than saying with a high voice what the majority of the people were feeling," she said, referring to multiple times she's mentioned Caruana Galizia's murder.
"It's a wound that will never close. For a family - they've had their mother taken; if the children today have their own children, they don't have a grandmother. This is never closed. Irrespective of what happens," she said.
But for the greater society, does she feel that any steps have been taken in the last year? The President said she does not wish to be categorical, lest she impinge on ongoing judicial processes.
'It's not healthy for the race for money to become an addiction' - President
The President has time and time again spoken about society and its values, expressing a belief - or worry, even - that modern society may be losing its way somewhat.
In an interview the day after she was sworn in, Spiteri Debono told the Times of Malta that "the sense of what is right is very slowly being lost" - and asked to expand on this by The Malta Independent on Sunday, she said that "big importance is being given to material things, among them money."
"Wealth, even in the personal sphere of those who have it, should not be the biggest thing that leads us. Why? Even if you create wealth, for it to be true wealth it cannot be wealth which only the individual enjoys but there must be the sharing and distribution of that wealth for others to enjoy," she said.
She said that the country depends on wealth and production just as much as every single citizen does, if you had to look at everyone's input.
"I don't think it is healthy, even from a psychological standpoint, that the race for money becomes an addiction," she said.
Asked whether she's worried about how society today is developing, particularly in terms of its morality and priorities, the President highlighted that the Maltese people are still generous, and this is something she touches first hand in fundraising marathons.
"Generosity however shouldn't be generosity only in the sense of money; the biggest generosity is that you give your time - part of your life - for other people," she highlighted.
"Sometimes the biggest help one can give is simply in having the patience to listen to someone share their sadness. I think that even one of the defects we see around us when we consider advances in technology is that if we are not careful, we will lose the faculty to communicate with each other closely," she said.
Did the Covid-19 pandemic have an impact on how society is developing today? Spiteri Debono says that the pandemic shook a lot of people from within their comfort zone.
"We had to consider our mortality in a much closer manner. I think that had an impact, and when you speak to certain people who perhaps are by nature more profound in their thinking, you feel that," she added.
Euthanasia and abortion being legalised in Malta is a matter of time, President says
Sensitive issues such as euthanasia and abortion have long been a topic for debate, with Spiteri Debono's predecessor George Vella having quite unequivocal views on them - especially on abortion.
Spiteri Debono however has time and time again said that the best way forward for such reforms is via a referendum for the public to decide, and she told The Malta Independent on Sunday that she believes it's a matter of time before these things are implemented in Malta as well.
"When it comes to euthanasia and abortion, we need the people to have spoken, and spoken in a clear and tangible manner - and I think the best tool for that is a referendum," she said when asked about the subject.
She said that we must consider that Maltese society has a past where the Church had a strong dominance, and society is made up of people who are coming from different generations - some old enough to be from that past.
"It has happened, I believe in Ireland on abortion and in Italy on divorce, that at a certain moment in time the situation will be against - then some time passes, and it becomes in favour," she said.
"Why? Because society develops wherein for certain people coming from a certain influence, nature itself would mean that at a point they are no longer there. So then there will be a majority of those who want roads to open or the route to change," she continued.
"It's a natural process, but at a certain moment in time it's important that there is an indication. This is my personal opinion and I have always expressed myself in this way," she said.
Asked whether she feared, however, that a referendum may end up being politicised, Spiteri Debono said that this danger always exists because in a society of our size, something like this is "felt more."
"That's why you need to have a people which is informed, capable of being objective, and is able to separate the wheat from the chaff," she said.
'We need to give it the weight it deserves,' President says on Malta's neutrality
Asked about the relevance of Malta's neutrality in today's ever-changing international context, Spiteri Debono said that one first needs to understand the definition given to neutrality.
"If you are speaking about neutrality as it was under what we call the Old World Order, which means passivity and lack of action - our neutrality is not like that," she said.
She continued that our policy is to be militarily neutral, which means that we not politically neutral in the sense that Malta does not condemn or react to anything - it simply means that Malta does not get involved with armaments.
Spiteri Debono also observed that there are two countries like Malta within the European Union: Austria and Ireland.
"We need to give it the weight it deserves. Even though some years ago there were some who began to question neutrality, if you look at the declarations of both party leaders in Parliament - neutrality is something that they both agree with," she said.
Turning to Malta's electoral system, which has been subject to new proposals and discussions - not least by the President herself, who has said that it's time for the system to be adjusted so that smaller parties have a better chance of being elected, Spiteri Debono said that even if the two major parties disagree, it is a principle which must be discussed.
"I believe that even certain abstentions in voting indicate that people are not feeling that they have enough of a choice with the two parties," she said.
Asked however whether it's realistic to see such a reform implemented, given that it's the two major parties who have to implement it, Spiteri Debono said that irrespective of what they think, it's time to "give the people the chance to discuss this, even if it doesn't get anywhere."
She said that she doesn't expect there to be changes as soon as the next election in two years' time but said: "it is time to discuss it and speak about the formation of Parliament."
If the discussion doesn't come from Parliament itself, then it should come from elsewhere, she said.
One year down, four to go
Asked how she would sum up her first year in the Presidency, Spiteri Debono described it as an "explorative year" where she wanted to "understand exactly what I may find before me."
"It doesn't mean that I've met everything that can happen, but I got used to certain things which crop up, and certain work which becomes repetitive, especially when it comes to outreach with the people," she said.
"I have definitely not touched everything... there are sectors which I still need to meet," she added.
Asked what the greatest surprise to her has been in this last year, Spiteri Debono replied that she wasn't expecting "to be this breathless."
"I wasn't expecting that I'd have almost no free weekends this year or the amount of work and requests for meetings that there are," she said.
Speaking about these meetings, she said: "We call them courtesy meetings but in fact the majority are information visits, and visits where we can discuss things which affect their respective sectors and they'd like to see improved."
Asked, finally, what she'd most like to do or see done in the four years she has left as President, Spiteri Debono said that she is not one who makes plans for specific things, and noted that she was thankful that people had stopped asking her about "what legacy I want to leave."
"I try to do my best so that I handle what I face as best as I can, and leave some good," she said.
"It is enough for me to have some good and brought my people forward, especially on a road for them to agree more between themselves and in more civil and friendly ways," she concluded.