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Filed by someone known to me. That the EU has nominated Helena Dalli as EU commissioner for equality is testament to the EU’s naiveté of zooming in on one tiny feature in the larger unfavourable picture. Malta’s Labour Party’s governance is all about discrimination and double standards. While the government welcomes wealthy foreigners of dubious [...]

The need to fix Malta's governance framework was 1 of 3 priorities identified by the European Commission for Malta to deliver on the "stability program" as an EU member state. The stability program measures compliance with economic policies of the countries in the EU and identifies weaknesses that need adjusting to ensure economic stability into [...]

The press is reporting the findings of the Venice Commission into the state of play in Malta and it is also reporting, as it expected to do, the government’s reactions to it. The facile answer from the government is that most of the problems listed by the Commission are in the design of our legal [...]

In 2019 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted on a resolution calling on Malta to get serious about investigating the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and to start addressing the corruption, the weak institutions, the rotten governance, and the intrusion on journalists’ basic freedoms. Only a few members of the Assembly voted [...]

It is true that where people are involved the temptation of corruption is present and the possibility that it occurs is inescapable. It doesn’t get better if it’s more sophisticated. But it can be somehow worse if it is cheaply and brazenly done. A kickback on the back of some major public contract laundered through [...]

There were two sets of laws proposed in separate announcements today. The government announced a new law criminalising virginity testing. The law makes it illegal to force a woman to test whether she’s ever had vaginal intercourse. Virginity tests are a horrible thing. They legitimise brutal violation of a woman’s dignity and excuse flagrant discrimination. [...]

This post will refer to several episodes that happened over the last few days that may at first appear unconnected but are in reality part of a growing trend of erosion of every individual’s right to seek the protection of the court from their government. Consider first this One TV report of a lawsuit brought [...]

The OECD’s detailed recommendations on improving standards in public life is less than a week old. The machine hasn’t been switched off yet and I’ve started mouthing the Lacrimosa already. Ask me again in a year which of the recommendations have been taken up by the government and nothing would make me happier than to [...]

All political groupings in the European Parliament yesterday voted in a resolution on the rule of law in Malta. The resolution included an urging to introduce the right to abortion in our law which was a point the liberal grouping wanted added. Sources in the EP say that Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer pushed for the [...]

The European Commissioner responsible for justice, Didier Reynders, is in Malta for a couple of days. He’s mostly seeing ministers who are, judging by reports of the parts of his meetings that were held in public, telling him how Malta ‘learnt its lessons’ about good governance and now everything is working fine. He’s holding a [...]