As a final entry in this series about the poverty of the so-called anti-SLAPP law the government proposed yesterday I want to list things the government should have introduced but didn’t. Against what standard, you might ask? Well, a good place to start would have been the draft EU directive published earlier this year that, [...]

The second amendment to the libel law that the government published yesterday is labelled as the government’s initiative to provide “protection against judgements abusively obtained from courts outside Malta”. The government handed journalists paper umbrellas and sent them out in the rain. There are a number of reasons why I say that. Firstly, the government [...]

This morning I reviewed the bill proposing constitutional amendments that the government published yesterday ostensibly to strengthen media freedom. I turn now to the second bill the government announced yesterday and I’ll split this review in two parts, starting in this series with the two provisions proposed by the government to address SLAPP suits. Once [...]

The European Commission announced today it was dragging Malta to the European Court of Justice because Malta sells its citizenship to people who have nothing to do with the country. That, the Commission argues, is in breach of the legal principle that we should “cooperate sincerely” with other member states. The biggest value to Maltese [...]

The third amendment to the constitution the government published yesterday rejigs the constitutional principle of free expression and, interestingly, the drafters resort to a universally respected source: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Indeed, the new text that establishes the right to free expression is nearly identical to the Universal Declaration. Except. Except is the [...]

The second amendment to the constitution in the bill the government published yesterday is an amendment to the constitution’s Article 38 which rejigs the constitutional provisions on the protection for privacy. Now it’s a mystery why this issue has been jumbled with a discussion on media freedom. No doubt there is a relationship between the [...]

The first amendment to the constitution published by the government yesterday introduces a new statement that says that: The State recognises the freedom of the media and the role of the media as a public watchdog together with the right to exercise free journalism as fundamental elements of democracy. The State shall protect and promote [...]

I start, as I often do, with a disclaimer of incompetence. I am not a lawyer, let alone a constitutional expert. I speak to lawyers, and I can read but what I write here is nothing more than a journalistic assessment. I look forward to the published opinions of qualified experts, proper constitutional lawyers whom [...]