A joint statement published by five of Malta’s leading NGOs calls out key members of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group of the European Parliament for defending the Maltese government’s push to kill magisterial inquiries.
Published on Tuesday, the statement – addressed directly to members of the S&D group itself – expressed concern about the S&D’s false claim that the government’s so called “reform” is based on the recommendations made by the Venice Commission in 2018.
The Bill has been falsely described as ‘follow(ing) on the lines of the recommendation made by the Venice Commission in its Opinion of the 18th December 2018’,” the statement reads.
“It reflects neither the letter nor the spirit of the Venice Commission’s recommendations. If adopted, the Bill will consolidate the almost impregnable shield protecting members of the Executive from investigations of corruption, nepotism, maladministration, and other crimes.”
The statement was signed by The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, aditus foundation, the Maltese branch of Fondazione Falcone, Repubblika, and Moviment Graffitti.
Last Thursday, Labour MEP and S&D vice-president Alex Agius Saliba set himself front and centre of the parliamentary group’s efforts to praise the government’s attempt at making it impossible for citizens to request a magisterial inquiry.
Together with the president of his party, Iratxe García Pérez, Agius Saliba – who is a staunch defender of the Labour Party and remains one of disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s proteges within its ranks – called upon European Commission president Ursula von Der Leyen to dismiss criticism of the government’s “reform.”
Besides flatly pointing out that the legislative bill in question does not faithfully transpose the Venice Commission’s recommendations, the joint statement also refers to the urgent, unmet needs of Malta’s judiciary system.
The Government’s proposals do not address the fundamental and urgent need to evolve Malta’s criminal justice system to ensure criminal proceedings conclude in a reasonable time, to minimise the frequency of failed prosecutions, and to improve the low conviction rate for violent crime as well as fraud and corruption,” the organisations noted.
The government’s bill has faced a wide range of criticism from stakeholders, experts, civil society, and even former members of the judiciary – one of whom was deliberately targeted in Parliament by the justice minister and the prime minister.
In spite of the vast, unified opposition towards the legislative amendments, the government doubled down on its efforts to streamroll them through as quickly as possible, continuously lashing out at anyone who continues to call for it to be scrapped.
The organisations further noted that some positive aspects of the multi-pronged bill (like granting victims of crime access to information throughout the inquiry) are effectively ensnared by the bill’s far more malignant intent.
“These proposals are being prepended and appended to an initiative which, without them, could be nakedly evaluated as an attempt to kill investigations into current members of the cabinet,” the statement notes.