A European Parliament working group tasked with assessing rule of law issues will once again feature Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola among its members.

Dr Metsola will join other MEPs who form part of the parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee on the working group, which was first set up in 2018 to take a closer look at rule of law concerns in Malta and Slovakia following the murders of journalists Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak. 

The working group was re-established on Monday and now has an expanded mandate stretching to 2022 to look into threats to democracy, rights violations and corruption in Member States. 

It will be able to recommend specific actions such as meetings with stakeholders, hearings and missions, as well as to make suggestions for Civil Liberties Committee proposals for resolutions and reports.

MEP Sophia in ‘t Veld will continue to chair the 12-member working group. 

 Dr Metsola said she was proud to serve on the group.

“I was returned as a representative of the people of Malta and Gozo with a stronger mandate to tackle these issues and to stand up for the European values that underpin our Union,” she said.  

“The group will look at every Member State and will seek to push for reforms where these are necessary”.

Dr Metsola insisted the group would not single out any particular country. 
“We will look at different systems in different States and make proposals to strengthen them where these are needed”, she said.