Updated 3.35pm, adds minister's tweet

Civil society group Repubblika on Sunday expressed shock at the resolution approved by Parliament registering agreement on the appointment on members of the judiciary.

In a letter to Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, the group said it had expressed an interest in constitutional reform several times and issued several statement and appeals calling for a reform.

It said it had publicly criticised the government for trying to hinder the Council of Europe from allowing the Venice Commission to analyse Malta’s situation, and for shelving the commission’s recommendations.

The group said it had filed an application in court for the government to work on the reform of the judiciary but it was ignored and the government appointed 13 per cent of the judiciary under the old system, which the Venice Commission had said was incompatible to modern democratic norms.

While the group praised the appointment of Mark Chetcuti as chief justice, it objected to the choice process since it believed that executive, legislative and judiciary powers should be independent from the government.

Although it was positive that there was agreement between the government and the Opposition, this was not a guarantee of judiciary independence, which the group said it would continue to insist upon.

Through the resolution approved by Parliament, the government was showing yet again that it was prodding ahead on its own excluding serious and effective participation by civil society.

The group referred to its recommendations a year ago on how consultations on constitutional reforms should be carried out and said the worst way was for these to be carried out behind closed doors between the government and its alternative, as their approach was always to preserve their powers as much as possible.

It reiterated its commitment to take part in serious reforms carried out in the interest of the country with the effective inclusion of civil society. They said, however, they were not willing to be a stamp for the government to appear that it had consulted when it had not.

This, it said, was a necessary reform for the country which had weak institutions that were widely controlled by the government. The government the minister had been part of exploited this weakness and abused of power.

To be trusted that it was repairing the damage for future governments not to repeat the abuse, the minister had to do much more than approve a resolution in Parliament and boast of an agreement on something which no one had yet seen, Repubblika said.

In a tweet later, the minister said the government was committed to conduct all the necessary institutional reforms, also on the basis of the Venice Commission opinion. He said he noted and appreciated the interest of the group in this
in this process and he would meeting its representatives in the coming days.