The European Parliament adopted by a very large majority (581 in favour, 26 against and 83 abstentions) on Wednesday 18 December a resolution denouncing threats to the rule of law and media freedom in Malta, following recent revelations about the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia (see EUROPE 12392/6).
The signatory political groups (EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL, ECR) are calling on the Commission to take concrete steps to ensure that the rule of law and fundamental rights such as freedom of the media and the independence of the police and judiciary are respected in Malta. In particular, they are concerned about the risk of compromise in the investigation into the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, as well as other money laundering and corruption cases.
The S&D group, accused on several occasions during the plenary debate on Tuesday 17 December of not being critical enough of the Maltese government, also voted overwhelmingly in favour of this resolution.
Parliament also gave the green light to an amendment put forth by the six political groups that drafted the text concerning the creation of a European Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for investigative journalism. This amendment welcomes the adoption of such a prize by the Parliament’s Bureau, which is invited “to finalise the necessary provisions as soon as possible”.
See the text of the resolution: http://bit.ly/35BoyWz (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki, intern)