Meeting in Strasbourg for its plenary session, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday 19 October denouncing persistent failings in Malta’s respect for the rule of law, 6 years after the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia (see EUROPE 13272/15).
Supported by 437 votes in favour, 14 against and 66 abstentions, the text is an extension of last year’s resolution (see EUROPE 13045/25). It takes stock of the progress made in the legal proceedings relating to the journalist’s murder and the reforms called for by the public enquiry in 2021.
A “culture of impunity”
The European Parliament deplores the limited progress in the Caruana Galizia case, regretting that there have only been three minor convictions, none of which concerned the person who ordered the assassination. It also criticises the lack of progress in prosecuting the crimes of corruption denounced by the journalist. More broadly, it denounces a “culture of impunity” and an “institutional failure of law enforcement and justice” in Malta, as well as “deficient reforms”.
Accused of being “timid” about the Daphne Caruana Galizia affair, the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for values, Věra Jourová, pointed out that “it is not the Commission’s role to comment on the substance of ongoing national investigations”.
As for the reforms, while she was satisfied with the cooperation of the Maltese authorities, she conceded that in the fight against corruption, the 2021 recommendations “remain to be implemented”. This is particularly true, she said, for high-level cases, “including the lack of a robust track record of final judgements and on the length of investigations”.
Finally, she once again called on Malta to put an end to its “citizenship scheme for investors” (see EUROPE 13274/1).
“Double standards”
The previous day’s debate also saw clashes between political groups. Alex Agius Saliba (S&D, Maltese) criticised the resolution, which he said was “being used to unfairly depict half-truths and to make senseless attacks against Malta”.
“The EPP’s intention is not to protect journalistic freedom, but only to attack the Maltese government simply because it is a left-wing government”, he accused.
Other MEPs, including Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, German), Konstantínos Arvanítis (The Left, Greek) and Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew Europe, Dutch) also accused the EPP of not showing “the same passion for other cases, such as that of Giorgos Karaivaz”, a Greek journalist who was also murdered (see EUROPE 13159/14). EPP MEPs levelled this accusation back at the socialists. “Does your group’s sorrow depend on the colour of the government? [...] In the case [of Ján Kuciak in] Slovakia, your feeble reaction took 5 years”, retorted Paulo Rangel (EPP, Portuguese).
The S&D group tried to introduce two amendments aimed at mitigating some of the accusations against the Maltese government, but without success. The group nevertheless voted in favour of the text, with the exception of Mr Agius Saliba and Josianne Cutajar (S&D, Maltese).
Finally, Beata Kempa (ECR, Polish) and Gianantonio Da Re (ID, Italian) accused the Commission of “double standards” by focusing more on Poland and Italy than on other Member States. Some of these groups did not support the text, in particular because of a reference to the law on abortion in Malta (see EUROPE 13065/28).
Media protection
Insisting that threats to journalists are not limited to any one country, Ms Jourová called on the Member States to be ambitious on the ‘anti-SLAPPs’ directive, and in particular to adopt a “very ambitious definition of cross-border cases” (see EUROPE 13269/22). The same applies to the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), where she asks them not to “water down” the provisions introducing an “almost absolute ban on the use of spyware against journalists” (see EUROPE 13263/6). The Spanish Presidency of the EU Council has given assurances that it is working to reach agreement on both pieces of legislation before the end of the year.
The adopted text: https://aeur.eu/f/952 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)