An advanced copy of the draft resolution that will be debated next week by the European Parliament during a debate on rule of law in Malta shows MEPs are expected to express regret that developments in Malta in recent years have led to serious concerns about the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights including freedom of the media and the independence of the police and judiciary.
The damning draft resolution, seen by this website, is an indictment of the government’s actions and omissions that have led to a persistent breach of European values.
At Tuesday’s debate, Euro-parliamentarians are expected to comment on the fact that serious allegations of corruption and breach of anti-money laundering and banking supervision obligations have not been investigated by the police in Malta.
They are expected to deem this a threat to the rule of law in Malta. The draft resolution speaks of specific regret about “the fact that there has been no police investigation to date in Malta of the revelations regarding the Panama Papers and Politically Exposed Persons in the leaked FIAU reports, and notes that some of those named in the FIAU reports remain part of the government”.
After almost three years of impunity, the European Parliament is now getting ready to effectively demand that Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi and the owner of Egrant should be under immediate investigation rather than part of the government.
The European Parliament is also expected to express dismay at the “high politicisation” of regulatory institutions in Malta that are supposed to be independent of the government.
This European Parliament debate will be a defining time for Malta’s reputation in Europe and worldwide. For the first time since 1987 an elected chamber outside our country now seems set to explicitly admonish the government of this country for seeming to depart from the core values we used to call our own: the European values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
The draft resolution seen by this website calls on the Maltese authorities to investigate Pilatus Bank and to investigate the compliance of Nexia BT with anti-money laundering laws. They reiterate concerns about Malta selling passports and calls for the publication of the list of people who paid Malta for unhindered access to the EU.
The European Parliament is expected to frame its debate on rule of law in Malta in the foreground of a strong condemnation of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
T
hough it calls on Malta’s government to deploy all necessary resources to bring her murders to justice, the resolution wants “an independent international investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia”.
Having been left alone to be blown up by who knows who, the resolution calls on the authorities “to ensure the protection of journalists’ and whistleblowers’ personal safety and livelihoods”.
It demands the setting up of a “European Daphne Caruana Galizia prize for investigative journalism” to reward yearly outstanding investigative journalism in Europe. Because that is the regard our biċċa blogger was held in.
