No need for a second republic - Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici

Former prime minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici has questioned the Government's drive to amend the Constitution and create "a second republic". He insisted the creation of second republic meant the Constitution would change radically and asked those pushing this idea to openly say what these changes would be. "Anybody who is serious does not simply say the Constitution should change but will outline the principles that have to change or be introduced," Dr Mifsud Bonnici said with clear reference to the Labour Party's electoral pledge to set up a constitutional convention that would propose changes. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has often said he wanted to oversee the creation of a second republic. "There is no reason to create a second republic if it means destroying the foundations of the first republic. The Constitution can be updated but it does not mean we need a second republic," Dr Mifsud Bonnici said this morning. He was speaking at a press conference of the Campaign for National Independence, a political pressure group he heads, to criticise Government and Opposition exponents, who were suggesting changes to the Constitution's neutrality clause. He said this discourse was...