President’s law delay is constitutional ‘obscenity’, experts say
President George Vella is breaching the constitution every day that he refuses to sign a controversial IVF reform into law, two legal experts agree. Kevin Aquilina, a former dean of the Faculty of Laws, warned that President Vella is not meeting his duty as head of state when placing his personal reservations over a reform above the will of the people. “The president is there to serve the constitution and not the other way around. Every day that this bill, approved by parliament, waits gathering dust on the president’s desk in the palace, is another day that the constitution is not being respected,” Prof. Aquilina said. Article 72 of the Constitution of Malta has a provision that states that the president must assent to bills ‘without delay’ once they have passed through parliament. The amendments were approved by MPs on July 6, gaining support from both parties with 66 votes in favour and three against. President Vella is understood to be personally uncomfortable with the reform, which will allow medical professionals to screen embryos for a limited number of genetic conditions. Sources said the delay, now more than two weeks since the amendments were approved in...