The government has yet to provide details on its “extensive package of reform proposals” despite claiming this was “almost ready for publication”, Council of Europe rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt claims. 

Omtzigt had returned to Malta on another fact-finding mission in February, meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela, Education Minister Owen Bonnici as well as journalists and other ministers. 

During his visit, Omtzigt had lamented the lack of progress in implementing changes recommended by the Venice Commission, with Abela saying his government took reports on Malta very seriously. 

Now, almost three months since the visit, Omtzigt said that despite the government telling him in February the package of reform proposals was almost ready for publication, he had yet to see any text on this. 

“I have still not seen any text, but I have heard serious concerns about how the proposals were developed,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. 

“My earlier report noted the scepticism of many in Malta, who feared that the reform process would be ‘handled behind closed doors between the leadership of the governing and opposition parties’. I concluded that this would be wrong, yet it is exactly what seems to be happening.”

For the Venice Commission, he noted, it was “very important” that reforms are adopted as a result of wide consultation, though this did not seem to be the case in Malta. 

“How the reform proposals are prepared, and whether they meet the clear requirements of the Venice Commission opinion, will affect not only their legitimacy and acceptance by the general public – it will also be a defining test for the international credibility of the Abela administration,” he said. 

The Dutch MP was tasked with looking into the state of Malta’s rule of law in the wake of the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. He has since visited numerous times, meeting both the current prime minister and his predecessor Joseph Muscat. He has often been very critical of the latter.