IT-TLETTAX-IL LEĠIŻLATURA
P.L. 3726
Dokument imqiegħed fuq il-Mejda tal-Kamra tad-Deputati fis-Seduta Numru 248 tal-10 ta’ Lulju 2019 mill-Ministru għall-Ġustizzja, Kultura u Gvern Lokali.
______Raymond Scicluna Skrivan tal-Kamra
7/ 10/2019 'We are not enemies of Malta' - The Shift News the Shift
Hom e > Interview > 'We are not ene ...
INTERVIEW 'We are not enemies of Malta'
In an interview with Tile Shift News, Special Rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt shares his views on the government' reponse to his report and its commitment to implement reforms.
by Caroline Muscat 24 days ago
Joseph Muscat's government is faced with an opportunity to go down in hi story as the administration that brought Malta in line with modern European standard s on the rule of law, but it must first accept "well-meaning, constructive proposals for reform", according to the Council of Europe's Special Rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt. h ttps: //thesh iftnews. com/20 19/06/16/we-are-not-enemies-of-malta/ 1/5 7/10/2019 'We are not enemies of Malta' -The Shift News Speaking to The Shift News, he said he was "still hopeful" that the government would correct its piecemeal approach to implementing recommendations by the Council of Europe and use the expertise available from such international bodies.
"Neither I, nor the Legal Affairs Committee (of the Council of Europe) are enemies of Malta. On the contrary, we believe that the rule of law is a universally good thing, for both authorities and citizens," Omtzigt said.
The Special Rapporteur has been a target of the Maltese government, with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici expressing "doubts" about him. Lawyer and Labour MP Manuel Mallia led the Labour delegation's objections to the Council of Europe report on Malta, though his attempts failed.
Omtzigt's report was adopted by the Legal Affairs Committee on 29 May despite Mallia raising close to 50 objections - every single one having been shot down by the committee.
Mallia was undeterred, sending a message to the Malta delegation on a social media app on Thursday informing them that the South EU Summit held in Malta on Friday would be a good opportunity to "lobby against Omtzigt's report".
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https: //theshiftnews.com/20 19/06/16/we-are-not- enemies-of-malta/ 2/5 7/10/2019 'We are not enemies of Malta' - The Shift News < 1anuel Mallia Mini summit tomorrow between 6 countries is fertile ground for lobbying against Omzigt's report. Anyone taking the lead?
Emanuel Mallia 0 Tl1is tnessage was deleted.
Emanuel Mallia ~ This message was deleted.
Tile m essage Labour MP Manuel Mallia sent to the g roup of MPs that form part of the delegation at the Council of Europe, was deleted soon after.
Omtzigt told The Shift News that if these reports were correct then he was "very disappointed" that Mallia was still not engaging positively and "accepting our well meaning, constructive proposals for reform".
"When Member States say that they are committed to respecting European standards on the rule of law, we believe them; we do not expect perfection, but we do expect a willingness to respond to problems. The Council of Europe is a friend that can provide expert support and assistance in this process," Omtzigt said.
For this to happen, the government cannot adopt "a piecemeal approach" to changes and conduct a reform process in an untransparent manner, he added.
Speaking on the Bill to 'split the role of the Attorney General' by establishing the Off1ce of the State Advocate, wh ich had just been published when Omtzigt f1led his report, he stressed that it was immediately obvious that it did not satisfy the Venice
h ttps ://theshiftn ews.com/20 19/06/16/we-are-not -enemies-of-malta/ 3/5 7/10/2019 'We are not enemies of Malta' - The Shift News Commission recommendations. His concerns were echoed by the former Dean of the Faculty of Laws Kevin Aquilina.
Omtzigt's report highlighted three main concerns on tti e role of the Attorney General:
o The Attorney General's decisions on prosecutions are still not made fully subject to judicial review, o The Attorney General is not given responsibility for magisterial inquiries, which leads to confusjon, inefficiency and ineffectiveness, o The Attorney General continues to be chair of the FIAU, a situation that the Venice Commission considers to be "problematic''.
He told The Shift News the analysis was far from exhaustive, stressing the need for a holistic approach to implementing in their entirety the recommendations by two Council of Europe bodies - the Venice Commission and the Council's anti-corruption body GRECO.
Omtzigt said the untransparent process defined in a vague 'roadmap', that was never sent to him despite his requests to the Maltese government, made it close to impossible for outside observers - whether Maltese opposition politicians and civil society, or European institutions -to say whether or not things were heading in the right direction.
'Road map' must be the word that defmes Joseph Muscat's government. It was elected on a 'road map' for energy that landed the country with the "sinister" Electrogas deal. It has used it repeatedly every time it has been cornered since.
In this case, the 'roadmap' the government is referring to consists of a letter to Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova outlining steps it intends to take along the way. The Bill on the Office of the State Advocate should not be debated in isolation but as part of a package of reforms, Omtzigt insisted.
While saying that PN MP Simon Busuttil's labelling of the Bill as "anti-European" was probably a step too far, Omtzigt said the proposed law was an important - but not a sufficient- first step towards reforming the Office of Attorney General.
https://theshiftnews .com/20 19/06/16/we-are-not-enemies-of-malta/ 4/5 7/10/2019 'We are not enemies of Malta' - The Shift News "If it is completed by other necessary measures, then the fmal result may be compliant with European standards. The Council of Europe has decades of experience in monitoring reforms and will have no difficulty in analysing the fmal outcome, no matter how complex and lengthy the process and how numerous the measures taken," he said.
But he agreed that the reforms are being developed in a "sporadic, disjointed manner" and that if the fmal result of the reform process as a whole was inadequate, then Malta would have a problem with European institutions.
"I cannot understand why this approach has been taken. Why not let the world know what the final outcome is supposed to look like?"
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https://theshiftnews.com/20 19/06/16/we-are-not-enemies-of-malta/ 5/5 From the adopted report on assassinatioo of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the Rule of taw in Ma.lta,
The proposal· !AG reform bill in Malta! falls short of the Ven_ief;' Commissi"cm1s recomme-ndations in .seve-ra! importa nl respects:
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;U.""~""'"'~ 1-!'. .ilh>f'-f'\ ,..;#1-"_,r l);fl!ro<_ <;:l )7 Di 11 jun. .111 4G <; 50% ~ semantic-pace. net new mag1s1raTes anu mree new JUages. 1nrs - snows comemp-r mr me couns anu 1s em1re1y ar oaas wrm--me Prime Minister's promise to implement the Venice Commission's recommendations. President George Vella, who was constitutionally obliged to give effect to these appointments, used his speech on that occasion to call for implementation of the Venice Commission reforms "as soon as possible". The new judges include one of the former Labour candidates who was made a magistrate by Prime Minister Muscat. Another was the magistrate who rejected a separate inquiry into the secret offshore company 17 Black (see below). The third was the magistrate, also appointed by Prime Minister Muscat, who conducted the "Egrant inquiry" that the Prime Minister claims exonerates himself and his wife of corruption and money laundering (see below). This state of affairs is fundamentally incompatible with the idea of judicial independence. 17. The Attorney General is also appointed by the Prime Minister and is involved in both providing legal advice to the government and prosecuting criminal offences. The Venice Commission observes that "[t]he concentration of the powers of adviser to the Government and prosecutor in one institution makes the office very powerful. This is problematic from the viewpoint of the principle of democratic checks and ba lances and the separation of powers". It is also problematic in relation to investigation and prosecution of allegations of criminal conduct by politicians, as will be illustrated below. The advisory role includes representing the government in judicial proceedings and assisting in the drafting of laws and regulations. The Venice Commission has recommended splitting the Attorney General's functions and creating a separate "Prosecutor General" or "Director of Public Prosecutions", whose office would also absorb the embryonic prosecution department of the police force (see below). On 2 May 2019, the Minister of Justice tabled a bill before parliament to create a State Advocate, replacing the Attorney General as the government's legal advisor. The office of the Attorney General would remain, with a role only in the criminal justice system, able to instruct the police to conduct investigations and with direct responsibility for prosecutions. The proposal falls short of the Venice Commission's recommendations in several important respects: for example, 1Us not ex licitly stated 13. See "Judiciary appointments soon despite promised reforms", Times of Malta, 12 April 2019; "Revealed: Doctored report shows extent of collapse of rule of law'', The Shift, 15 April 2018; "Judicial Appointments: Choose wisely, Minister", Malta Independent, 3 March 2019; "In three years: 14 new judges and magistrates, 10 of them directly linked to the Labour Party", Running Commentary, 20 November 2016; "Consuelo Herrera should have been appointed judge years ago, Prime Minister says", Malta Independent, 25 June 2018; "Zammit Young turns down nomination after judiciary watchdog raises doubts on appointment", Malta Today, 5 February 2016. 14. See, for example, Micallefv. Malta, Application No. 17056/06, judgment of 15 October 2009 (Grand Chamber). 10 Doc. 14906 Report that the Attorney General's decisions on prosecutions would be subject to judicial review; it seems that the Attorney General would not be given responsibility for "inquests" cu rrently undertaken by magistrates (see below); and the bill does not address the Attorn ey General's "problematic" pos ition as chair of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (see below). I nevertheless welcome this initiative as a significant first step and encourage both the government and the parliament to consult the Venice Commission and GRECO on its formulation, implementation and completion by other measures. 2.2. The criminal justice system 18. Although the Attorney General is involved in prosecutions, it is in fact the police who initially prosecute. The Attorney General advises the police upon request, may decide on whether a case is brought in the lower ('y or upper criminal court, supervises committal proceedings and may discontinue a prosecution. '1 19. The Commissioner of Police is appointed and can also be dismissed by the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Muscat is now on his fifth Commissioner of Police. The first, John Rizzo, had served for 12 years and was preparing corruption charges against disgraced former European Commissioner John Dalli. Days after