Human Rights Watch: Bring the imprisoned migrants ashore

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2020-05-24T08:58:55+02:00Sun, 24th May '20, 08:49|

International NGO Human Rights Watch joined the chorus of pressure on Malta to allow migrants penned on Captain Morgan coastal cruises outside Maltese territorial waters to disembark in Malta and seek asylum if they choose. The organisation accused Malta’s government of having no legal basis or legitimate purpose for keeping people on these ferries, making [...]

Do they laugh at their own jokes?

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2020-05-22T13:27:51+02:00Fri, 22nd May '20, 13:27|

Reno Calleja is a lifetime of humour. He was a minister in Dom Mintoff’s government until he was thrown out for being completely clueless. He’s spent a lifetime of irrelevance hovering around the Labour Party like a living fossil from the time Labour was the platform for Communist China’s interests in the West. He traded [...]

Contempt

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2020-05-22T10:57:01+02:00Fri, 22nd May '20, 10:57|

It’s really disturbing to see the government act with such contempt for the Venice Commission process. First they ignore them for 18 months and now they’re trying to hoodwink them with cosmetic and immaterial changes as if they were dealing with a gullible audience that is not specialised by training and experience to see through [...]

BBC: “The Maltese government did not answer my questions”

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2020-05-22T10:09:28+02:00Fri, 22nd May '20, 10:09|

This BBC Assignment program by Lucy Proctor seems desperate to hear the other side of the story of the migrant boats ignored by the Maltese government in our area of responsibility over the Easter Weekend. They want to put questions to the Maltese authorities. Why did you ignore boats in your area of responsibility for [...]

The buck stops with Robert

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2020-05-21T16:18:03+02:00Thu, 21st May '20, 16:18|

Robert Abela does not have the courage of his conviction that in spite of the fact that the risks of the consequences we would face today from a spike in Covid-19 cases are identical to what they were in March, he is the one to carry the responsibility of deciding we should now face that [...]

Where’s the science?

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2020-05-21T16:15:16+02:00Thu, 21st May '20, 16:15|

If Robert Abela is reaching the conclusion that the country is ready to live without Covid-19, he should have some scientific basis to back that decision up. I’m sorry but it is a cop-out to now say the science is too flimsy. The science and the mathematics were extremely compelling when our children were ordered [...]

Hey doctor, what do I do?

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2020-05-21T16:13:05+02:00Thu, 21st May '20, 16:13|

Why did it have to be the prime minister to deny Charmaine Gauci quit? This feels like an involuntary confirmation. I had been hearing from different sources since Friday that Charmaine Gauci could no longer stomach the fact that she was being used as a prop by Robert Abela to certify advice she was not [...]

False liberals

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2020-05-21T12:10:55+02:00Thu, 21st May '20, 12:10|

Moron Alex Agius Saliba did some rainbow flag wrapping on a European Parliament’s online magazine carving out the empathic ventricle in his heart and speaking about the need to protect young gay people because we live “in a society that places increasing pressure on all of us”. He says that we should prioritise everyone’s mental [...]

Fascists against the law

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2020-05-21T07:14:42+02:00Thu, 21st May '20, 07:14|

The indomitable BugM said this was the strongest case yet for abolishing party-owned media. A 1:50 clip presenting a compelling argument in favour of the immediate shutting down of political tv stations in Malta. pic.twitter.com/gIMNmIG7sw — BugM (@bugdavem) May 20, 2020 And of course, he has a point. Political parties should not be allowed anywhere [...]

Proposals made to protect EU journalists from SLAPPs

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2020-05-20T14:37:22+02:00Wed, 20th May '20, 14:37|

Free speech NGOs have filed recommendations today on action the EU can take to reduce the risk of SLAPP suits against journalists working in the European Union. The recommendations are backed up by legal advice prepared by Maltese lawyer Justin Borg Barthet who lectures in the University of Aberdeen. The NGOs recommended a change to [...]

Photos show AFM illegally forced migrants out of Maltese waters and sent them to Sicily

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2020-05-21T11:40:47+02:00Wed, 20th May '20, 10:15|

Photo: Avvenire Photos and videos published today by Avvenire and The Guardian show military operations conducted by the Armed Forces within sight of Malta’s coast where migrants were allegedly threatened and forced out of Maltese waters and put on a route to Sicily. The press reports quote multiple sources say that AFM soldiers [...]

Malta fails to regain Europe’s trust – Il Foglio

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2020-05-20T09:30:02+02:00Wed, 20th May '20, 09:30|

Malta features on Italy’s Il Foglio today under the headline “L’Isola dei Sovranisti”. ‘Sovranismo’ is a political term normally used to describe far right politicians that argue for the autonomous self-reliance of states and for countries to act in their own interest without regard to international law or cooperation. It is used for the policies [...]

Repubblika on rule of law reforms: (17) Conclusion

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2020-05-19T14:34:13+02:00Tue, 19th May '20, 15:20|

In spite of the concerns expressed in this report, Repubblika wishes to make it abundantly clear that we are desirous of reform. We warn, however, that a reform is only welcome if it can promise solutions to the challenges we have today of an elected tyranny which exists above the law. This is why any [...]

Repubblika on rule of law reforms: (16) The Police

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2020-05-19T14:31:42+02:00Tue, 19th May '20, 15:15|

The government’s silence on this matter appears to be motivated by changes it has recently introduced to the manner of appointing the Police Commissioner. The government appears to expect no one to notice the elements of the recommendations made by the Commission that have been left out in the changes that are currently being implemented. [...]

Repubblika on rule of law reforms: (15) House of Representatives

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2020-05-19T15:31:39+02:00Tue, 19th May '20, 15:14|

Unlike its reaction to the Commission’s recommendations with respect to the President, the government provides absolutely no reaction to the Commission’s recommendations with respect to Parliament, and does not undertake to review the matter as part of a discussion on constitutional reform. Although this highly complex issue should indeed be dealt with as part of [...]

Repubblika on rule of law reforms: (14) Specialised Tribunals

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2020-05-19T14:26:24+02:00Tue, 19th May '20, 15:10|

We do not believe it is accidental that the government has ignored this consideration. Indeed, what the Commission describes as a danger, i.e. the risk of parallel jurisdiction, is from the point of view of the government, a desirable confusion. These specialised tribunals are an opportunity to dispense with the basic guarantees given by the [...]

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