A month from now

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2019-05-23T19:19:46+02:00Thu, 23rd May '19, 19:19|

Rule of law: the #ECJ will deliver its judgment relating to the lowering of the retirement age for Supreme Court judges in #Poland on the 24th of June (C-619/18) — EU Court of Justice (@EUCourtPress) May 23, 2019 A month from today the European Court of Justice will decide on the important case the European [...]

More democracy in action

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2019-05-23T10:03:12+02:00Thu, 23rd May '19, 10:03|

Joe Sammut gets you a Fiat Panda. But if you're ambitions are more contained, Owen Bonnici will get you baked beans. Make sure you dress up for that one as well.

Specialist blog on Repubblika’s court case: “important questions on how EU law can be democratised”

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2019-05-23T09:59:50+02:00Thu, 23rd May '19, 09:59|

Justin-Borg Barthet is a Senior Lecturer in European Law at Aberdeen University. He published today this blog post on specialist Constitutional Law web-site "Verfassungsblog" (Verfassungs is German for 'constitutional') commenting on yesterday's Court decision to continue to hear Repubblika's arguments claiming Malta's method of judicial appointments is in breach of EU law. On the question [...]

The carrot and stick approach

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2019-05-23T09:38:24+02:00Thu, 23rd May '19, 09:38|

Look at this post by Norman Vella. It explains how for 6 years he’s been in court waiting for the government that he has sued to produce one witness or one shred of evidence why in their view he was lawfully dismissed. Six years, and today he got told the case won’t continue before October. [...]

Democracy in action

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2019-05-23T09:20:10+02:00Thu, 23rd May '19, 09:20|

What does Joe Sammut think about climate change, sustainable economy, social inclusion, infrastructural priorities, the two state solution for Israel and Palestine? Who cares? He got me a car! They look mighty pleased.

Why? Because you wish me not to.

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2019-05-23T09:16:28+02:00Thu, 23rd May '19, 09:14|

Candidates often find flattering the furious attention from the opposite side of politics. At least they say they're flattered. Cyrus Engerer might say that I think even the hardest core, mindless zombie Labourite should not vote for him because I somehow think he's some form of political inconvenience. When of course the reason I think [...]

Lying sod

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2019-05-22T19:14:37+02:00Wed, 22nd May '19, 19:14|

Joseph Muscat was delivering a party speech this evening. I watched a man of power lie through his teeth like a child with his face smeared in chocolate. It’s not the first time. But it’s sad and mad and bad every time. Entirely bereft of token blacks on the benches that surround him now that [...]

Repubblika: Government lied twice in a single statement

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2019-05-22T12:56:05+02:00Wed, 22nd May '19, 11:35|

Repubblika statement Repubblika refers to the government's official statement 191133. It is worrying though unsurprising that the government published statements that include lies on facts. Firstly, the today's court case does not belong to Simon Busuttil and Jason Azzopardi ... inasmuch as it does not belong to Peter Grech and Victoria Buttigieg. Lawyers for parties [...]

Repubblika has legal right to claim appointment of judges in breach of EU law. Case will be heard – Court

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2019-05-22T09:22:24+02:00Wed, 22nd May '19, 09:21|

The First Hall of the Civil Court presided by Judge Mark Chetcuti, today rejected the government’s claim that Repubblika has no legal standing in arguing that the government should not be appointing judges and magistrates without reforming the judicial appointments system. The Court found that Repubblika was eligible to make this claim under the Charter [...]

Malta’s constitutional reform must be “transparent, inclusive” CoE draft resolution warns

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2019-05-22T08:00:16+02:00Wed, 22nd May '19, 07:57|

A draft Council of Europe resolution due for approval in its Parliamentary Assembly before the summer calls for reforms in Malta’ constitutional framework to be conducted through an “open, widely inclusive and transparent process.” The draft resolution is based on findings of a draft report that criticises Malta’s government and opposition for conducting their ongoing [...]

MONEY MAGAZINE: A new dawn will rise

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2019-05-22T07:20:00+02:00Wed, 22nd May '19, 07:20|

My article in this month's Money Magazine: A new dawn will rise At the end of every long night, a new dawn rises. A new dawn must rise over the long, cold night of inadequacy that we shiver under. It may need to get worse before it gets better, but the symptoms of terminal crisis [...]

GUEST POST: We’re off

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2019-05-22T07:07:27+02:00Wed, 22nd May '19, 07:07|

Sent in by someone known to me. When I read the article by Adam Zarb-Cousin I could only empathise. And my reaction to his article is: 'Do not return to Malta'. People are being bullied out of their homes and not only, even the country. My husband and I returned from Europe 6 years ago. [...]

Unsustainable irony

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2019-05-21T13:47:42+02:00Tue, 21st May '19, 13:47|

A listener on a Rai radio show today wrote in to remark on the irony of the EU awarding Malta a prize for sustainable development when Malta’s economic development appears to rely on the unsustainable sale of European citizenship to crooks and oligarchs from around the world. The show was today’s edition of Radio Tre [...]

Joseph Muscat “in contempt of the courts” – draft CoE report. Draft resolution calls for freeze on judicial appointments

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2019-05-21T12:49:38+02:00Tue, 21st May '19, 12:49|

A draft report to be discussed next week by the Council of Europe’s Legal Affairs Committee finds that the rushed appointment of three new Magistrates and three promoted Judges just days before Repubblika’s case against the government was due to be heard “shows contempt for the courts and is entirely at odds with the Prime [...]

The case for the defense

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2019-05-21T12:36:15+02:00Tue, 21st May '19, 12:36|

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has received a draft report from one of its own that it has commissioned to understand the context of the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia and what happened in Malta since then. The report will be discussed before the Assembly’s summer recess and will be accompanied by [...]

The murder of an innocent man and the government cover-up

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2019-05-21T10:07:14+02:00Tue, 21st May '19, 10:07|

The headline of today’s Times of Malta screams the government spin that they’re treating the murder of Lassana Cisse with the seriousness it deserves. They are but not for the reasons they profess. They are doing so because they realise they bear direct, political responsibility that in a functioning democracy would have had them kicked [...]

Hatemongers pursuivant

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2019-05-20T17:14:26+02:00Mon, 20th May '19, 17:14|

Sundry bigots, racists, holocaust deniers, Nazi-sympathisers and self-described patriots are on my Facebook page saying I’m spreading hate with my posts criticising them. They say they’re not the ones spreading hate speech, I am. I don’t criticise them for their speech as much as for their ideas. Although words are the tools of my trade, [...]

GUEST POST: Heartbroken

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2019-05-20T09:48:46+02:00Mon, 20th May '19, 09:48|

The author is a Maltese-American who has contributed guest-posts to this website in the past. Malta f’qalbi, imma qalbi miksura I can only hope these words find their way to an understanding heart. It’s a tall order in today’s world it seems. Most things written or stated are viewed through a lens of preference and [...]

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