A court of law declares a development permit issued by the Planning Authority null and void. A few days later, the PA, in clear defiance of this decision, sanctions and endorses the building application.
Following the publication of Budget 2025, the government indulged, at the taxpayer’s expense, in an aggressive and all-pervasive publicity in all kinds of media. These adverts were justified on the pretext of ‘informing’ the citizen about the budget proposals.
Of course, the adverts fail to mention the measure by which those born after 1976 will have to work one year more to earn their pension and for an extra year pay the relative national insurance contributions; nor do the adverts ‘inform’ us about the drastic reduction in expenditure for Gozo’s health services.
These adverts are evidently pure propaganda in breach of the provisions of our constitution. The court provisionally ordered the halting of such adverts.
The state broadcasting ignored such an order. Breaching an order issued by a court of law, in any country governed by the rule of law, amounts to contempt of court, which can lead to significant sanctions.
Instead of grabbing the chairperson of PBS by his lapels and ordering him to obey a court order, as everybody is expected to do in a country governed by the rule of law, Minister Owen Bonnici actually accused the opposition that it wants to “send the PBS employees to prison”.
It is not the employees but the chairperson who is responsible for the actions of the state broadcasting media. The absurd line of thinking of the minister is the following: “You see, it is not the fault of the chairperson who brazenly ignores, at his own risk and peril, a court order. It is the opposition’s fault for seeking a remedy in court for a blatant breach of the law.”
This sadly reminds me of the justification by a Labour government of the atrocious attack on Eddie Fenech Adami’s residence in 1979. “It was not the Labour thugs’ fault; they were provoked by Fenech Adami.”
Defying orders issued by a court of law is not only an act of preposterous defiance but constitutes a bad example to others- Tonio Borg
What is happening to our country? When we ordinary mortals are subject to court judgments and orders but the state organs ignore them, there is something terribly wrong with our government.
Defying orders issued by a court of law is not only an act of preposterous defiance but constitutes a bad example to others; if the state does not observe the law, why should we, ordinary mortals, act otherwise? Even the prime minister last Sunday, instead of ordering PBS to abide by a court order, irrespective of whether one agrees with it or not, had the gall to declare that the opposition’s lawyer is trying to gag the state broadcasting services.
This is not the first time that PBS has acted as the slavish mouthpiece of the current government. It has now even gone a step further. It had censored Pope Francis when he mentioned in his visit in 2022 the need to fight corruption. It did the same with former president George Vella, leaving out significant parts of an address of his which could be interpreted as a call for transparency and cleanliness in public office.
PBS has now gone even one step further. Encouraged by the lack of action on the part of the prime minister and company to avoid its excesses, it has now dared to do the unthinkable. It has declared itself above the law of the land and the constitution.
This amounts to the misrule not the rule of law.
Tonio Borg is a former European commissioner, former deputy prime minister and an associate professor of public law at the University of Malta.