Last Saturday, The Malta Independent reported that the Nationalist Party will only take a position on the government's proposal for a reform to introduce voluntary assisted euthanasia in Malta once the bill is tabled in Parliament - therefore opting against taking part in an eight week public consultation held by the government on the matter.

Plenty of organisations and members of the public have made submissions on the proposal as part of the public consultation process - but absent among them was Malta's Opposition party. 

The party has not issued any official stance on the proposal, and appeared to have not made any submissions in the public consultation.

Asked to confirm whether this is case, a spokesperson for the party said that the PN "has been listening to different points of view on the matter."

"The Government has already stated that its final proposal will probably be different than that outlined in the consultation document. PN's Parliamentary Group will take a position once the bill is debated in Parliament, which will be when the proposed law is published," the party's spokesperson told The Malta Independent.

It is known that the PN parliamentary group met to discuss the reform in mid-May, soon after it had been published, and it is understood that there were differing views on the subject. 

At the time, it seemed like the PN would be issuing its stance on the matter and taking part in the public consultation - but this appears to have fallen by the wayside.  The surprise resignation of party leader Bernard Grech likely won't have helped get things done.

It is a shame that Malta's opposition does not see fit to take part in a public consultation on a matter of such importance.  Plenty of other organisations and indeed members of the public submitted their feedback on the reform - be it in favour or against - yet Malta's second biggest political force and the organisation which is the main foil for the government has elected to remain on the fence.

It is not the first time this has happened.  Back in 2021 the PN did not make any submissions during the White Paper on cannabis, and earlier this year the party also failed to take part in a public consultation on a new sexual health strategy.

There is a bit of a pattern here: on matters of a remotely progressive nature, the PN seems to prefer to sit on the fence, at least initially, rather than have any decisive stance.  Maybe this is because of its history as a more conservative-leaning party, or maybe this is an effort to opportunistically understand the public mood around something and then be guided by it.

It is inconceivable that on significant reforms such as these the PN simply says it will wait until the bill is tabled in Parliament and then decide.

Sitting on the fence does not make an effective opposition. Among the tasks that the new PN leader will have once elected will be to make the party a more decisive one - even when any stance may alienate people of one political understanding or another.

Failure to do so will leave people asking a very simple question: if the PN cannot come out with a stance on a particular reform when it is in opposition, how is it ever going to manage to come up with reforms if it is in government?