Rule of law reform plans which the government presented to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission were rushed and key gaps remained, the Nationalist Party said on Saturday. 

The PN said that the proposals showed that the government had failed to curtail the prime minister’s power in appointing heads of commissions or regulators, had done nothing about the persons of trust system being abused and did not resolve the issue of MPs having their silence “bought” through public appointments, among other things. 

Proposals made about judicial appointments, which were well-received by the Venice Commission, had only come about thanks to the Opposition’s insistence, the PN said in a statement signed by its two MPs Chris Said and Jason Azzopardi. 

It added that the government now seemed poised to agree with the Opposition on another of its proposals – to appoint a president by a two-thirds majority in parliament. 

The Venice Commission on Friday adopted an opinion on Malta's rule of law proposals. In it, the monitoring body commended the government for many of its plans, though it noted that more would have to be done to ensure an adequate set of checks and balances. 

The PN said that a number of other proposals it had put forward remained valid. They include: 

• Appointing top posts, including the police commissioner and attorney general, through a two-thirds majority 

• Introducing legal limitations on positions of trust 

• Forbidding MPs from being given public sector jobs 

• Bolstering parliament’s watchdog role by ensuring Ombudsman decisions which are ignored must be debated by parliament and introducing a parliamentary committee focused on subsidiary legislation 

• Strengthening the anti-corruption commission to give it investigative powers 

The PN said that it was willing to work with the government to introduce these changes in the shortest possible period of time. 

“This would spread power more evenly across the country and ensure a system of all necessary checks and balances,” the PN said.