The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has dismissed a complaint by Norman Lowell that Rebecca Buttiġieġ, the parliamentary secretary for inclusion, broke the ministerial code of ethics through a Facebook comment.

The issue stemmed from a controversial decision by the Broadcasting Authority on August 21, when it fined RTK103 radio €4,660 after Lowell, the leader of Imperium Europa party, was excluded from a discussion programme in the run-up to the June elections.

Buttiġieġ subsequently wrote on Facebook that while the right to freedom of expression should be respected, when this right was used to undermine the fundamental rights of other people by hate speech, it was everyone's responsibility to ensure that this narrative was not promoted further.

"Let us not undermine democracy by giving space to somebody who constitutes populist incitement which, apart from being dangerous, is also lacking basic facts," she wrote.

Lowell complained that the parliamentary secretary's statement was based on mistaken media reports and constituted a breach of the ministerial code of ethics.

The Standards Commissioner said two points needed to be considered: whether the parliamentary secretary's remarks were a reasonable description of the views of Imperium Europa and whether a member of the executive should express a position such as this.

As for the first point, Buttiġieġ was referring to concrete facts when she referred to declarations by Lowell, who as leader of the party been found guilty of racist declarations in court. The Commissioner recalled that his office during a previous investigation, in 2021, had examined the website of Imperium Europa and found that it featured various declarations which went against the principles of democracy and equality, leading one to wonder whether it was respecting the criminal code. The site was no longer accessible, but the Office could confirm that up to just three years ago, the party transmitted extreme views, which could not be ignored. 

As for the second point, a person who was appointed to the Executive did not lose his right to express a political opinion, as long as he or she did not make use of the media of the state for that purpose. In this case, Buttiġieġ had commented on her personal page on Facebook.

Therefore the commissioner said there was no further basis for investigation of this case.

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