London: Six years after officially acknowledging that marriages might not last forever, Malta has become the European Union's 15th country to legalise same-sex marriage.

The staunchly Roman Catholic island nation in the Mediterranean had long been one of the continent's most conservative - banning divorces until 2011.

European Council President Donald Tusk, left, with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at an EU summit in Brussels in June. Credit:AP

But with Wednesday's nearly unanimous parliamentary vote to amend Malta's law, marriage is now no longer restricted to the union between a man and a woman. Back in 2014, the country already legalised same-sex civil unions and said it would also recognise same-same marriages from other countries.

"It's a historic vote. This shows that our democracy and society have reached a level of maturity and we can now say that we are all equal," said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Since Muscat was voted into office in 2013, he has pursued a number of policy changes that have drawn praise from liberals and harsh condemnation from the Catholic Church.