Following the European Parliament’s harsh criticism of the shortcomings of the rule of law in Malta last Thursday, the results of the Council of Europe’s investigations (Group of States against Corruption, Greco) into the fight against corruption in Malta have now become known. The Maltese daily „Times of Malta“ has published the most important results from a leak.
Sven Giegold, spokesman for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in the European Parliament and member of the working group on the rule of law in Malta and Slovakia in the European Parliament, comments:
„It is now time to act. The EU Commission must make the situation in Malta a top priority and initiate a procedure under Article 7 of the EU Treaties. So far, the responsible Vice-President and Social Democratic “Spitzenkandidat” for the European elections has referred the matter to Justice Commissioner Jurová. Following the Council of Europe’s dramatic findings, Timmermans must put an end to his hesitation. The S&D Group in the European Parliament must also ask itself why Malta’s Socialists are still members of their group. In any case, the recent statements by former prime minister and current MEP Alfred Sant had nothing to do with social democracy. Party political consideration must no longer take precedence over European fundamental values“.
„Institutional change is no substitute for criminal prosecution. It is a positive step that the Maltese government has announced changes to Malta’s constitutional set up. Nevertheless, it is completely unacceptable that Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri are still in office and that the financial services provider Nexia BT continues to operate on the market with impunity“.
„Christian Democrat President Tajani must finally clear the way for the establishment of the „Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Investigative Journalism“, as demanded by Parliament 16 months ago. It is a poor show, that Tajani shows himself incapable or unwilling to finally get the prize on the way.“
The Times of Malta’s report on the leak in Greco’s Malta recommendations:
The latest resolution of the European Parliament can be found here:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2018-0183+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
First resolution on the rule of law in Malta, 15 November 2017:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2017-0438+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN