Robert Abela must stop making excuses, playing for time and pulling rabbits out of his hat.
That is the conclusion one is justified in drawing after reading Peter Omtzigt’s follow-up report on Malta, endorsed by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.
The three main points he raises on the strengthening of the rule of law, ending impunity and on justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia, are informed opinions shared not only by the members of the committee, for which he is rapporteur, but also by many Maltese citizens.
Omtzigt, who had his fair share of issues with Joseph Muscat’s administration including an unsuccessful attempt to have him removed from monitoring investigations into the Bidnija murder, has been following the situation in Malta for long enough to be able to spot certain patterns and attitudes.
So he now speaks of false starts and broken promises by the Muscat administration and notes that, although laudable progress was made under Abela in implementing the recommendations of the Venice Commission, in particular, the reform process “has, however, been procedurally flawed and remains substantively incomplete in important respects”.
“Excuses” made by the government in relation to the lack of serious consultation with civil society evidently did not impress him or the Venice Commission.
Neither was he taken in by the fact that Malta has a new police commissioner and a new attorney general, who were appointed under ‘improved’ systems. To him, the proof of the pudding is only in the eating. Let them enjoy their brief honeymoon, he comments in his follow-up report, “but, sooner or later, they will have to produce concrete results”. In reality, some results have already been produced. The wounds of the recent past, he insists, can only heal when the full truth emerges and the lessons are learned.
Problem is, we are far from reaching that point yet and this is likely to remain the case for as long as the prime minister continues to enjoy so much power.
A clear example of this occurred just a few weeks ago when Abela decided who should represent the people in parliament and then appointed them ministers. As prime minister, he has the prerogative to choose cabinet members but MPs should be elected by the people with co-option only kicking in when truly necessary.
Omtzigt senses that not all is well in parliament and stresses the need for reform ensuring there is proper scrutiny. As did the Venice Commission when it commented in October that parliament’s unanimous approval of six bills earlier this year could also be interpreted “as proving the closedness of the political system and the fact that common vested interests bind the majority and the opposition together”.
What Omtzigt had to say about the fact that nobody has been prosecuted on corruption allegations can be applied to the situation in general with regard to governance and the rule of law. Recent developments, he notes, seem to be no more than institutional sleight of hand, diverting attention from the lack of results. Impunity will still prevail, “no matter how many oversight bodies issue damning reports or how many ongoing inquiries or investigations there may be”.
Moneyval and GRECO are expected to publish their follow-up reports on Malta soon.
May they keep up the sort of pressure to name and shame the individuals and organisations who ran riot without proper checks and balances.
If that leads to another purge like last January’s, then so be it.