Proposed constitutional amendments on judicial appointments are being drafted without sufficient transparency and consultation with civil society, the Repubblika group has complained.

The group, which focuses on civil society and rule of law, said on Monday it had written to the president of the Venice Commission, Gianni Buquicchio, to explain that although it had asked Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis to hand it a copy of the amendments before they were submitted to the commission, it appeared that the amendments would actually be made available once an agreement with the commission had been reached. 

The Venice Commission, a Council of Europe group of experts, made several recommendations to Malta late in 2018 on the rule of law and independence of the judiciary.

Repubblika has had talks with Zammit Lewis on its views on how judicial appointments should be made. It has also taken the government to court, contesting judicial appointments made in the past few months. The case has been referred to the European Court. 

In its letter it expressed concern that the prime minister and the government would likely still retain the power to block appointments despite recommendations by the Judicial Appointments Committee. 

"We ask your commission to insist on the recommendation it put forward in its December 2018 report that the debate and consideration of constitutional reforms of such importance are open to substantive participation of civil society and conducted transparently and under the scrutiny of the independent media" Repukblika wrote.

Read the letter in full by clicking on the pdf link below.