An NGO which is suing the government over its method of appointing judges and magistrates on Saturday said it would drop the case if new laws presented to parliament “fully embrace the recommendations put forward by the Venice Commission”. 

It said that the government had to implement changes to the method of judicial appointments "to avoid an embarrassing outcome" of the eventual court decision, which now rests with the European Court of Justice.

That decision would force it to make changes the Venice Commission recommended in its original 2018 opinion on Malta, Repubblika said.   

The NGO had filed a court case challenging the system by which judges and magistrates are appointed, saying the existing system gave the prime minister "arbitrary discretion" when selecting candidates. 

A local judge had referred the matter to the ECJ. 

The government has since said that it intends to reform the system and bring it more in line with what the Venice Commission had recommended in 2018. 

Repubblika said that while new laws could exclude government interference in future judicial appointments, this would not change the fact “that the judiciary as it exists today has been captured by seven years of abuse in appointments to the bench”. 

Venice Commission reaction

The NGO was reacting to the Venice Commission's concluded opinion on Malta’s rule of law proposals, which was published on Friday. That opinion welcomed many of the proposed changes but also noted that some shortcomings remained to ensure an adequate system of checks and balances. 

In its reaction, Repubblika noted that the government’s proposals were still far from being a reality and that draft legislation had yet to see the light of day. It emphasised the importance of the government providing the Commission with draft texts for review prior to passing them into law. 

Even if laws were passed, the government would then have to implement them, it also noted. 

Ultimately, the NGO said, it would take more than changed laws to heal what it described as Malta’s “state of impunity and lawlessness”. 

“As things stand, it is clear to one and all that the law does not rule in Malta. Crooks continue to rule,” the NGO said, noting that the Venice Commission opinion was released on the same day that international media was reporting “another scandal” about Malta. 

The NGO thanked the Venice Commission and Council of Europe rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt for their work to improve Malta’s system of rule of law.