Updated 2pm
The European Parliament will send a delegation to Malta to investigate the rule of law, corruption and money laundering, Guy Verhofstaft, the president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, tweeted this morning.
The European Parliament has also scheduled a debate on the rule of law and money-laundering in Malta, according to MEP Sven Giegold.
The Green MEP has been an outspoken critic of Malta and has led the campaign in the EP to investigate the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia on October 16.
In a tweet today, he said the debate would take place on November 14 at 3pm, adding “We've to finish Daphne #Galizia's fight!”
"Europe must act and will act to help restore the rule of law in Malta.
By sending a delegation, the Parliament shows how serious it is about the situation of the rule of law in Malta.
"It is high time for the Maltese government to take action against high level cases of money laundering and corruption. The culture of impunity and fiddling between political and economic elites has to stop. Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed because she shed light on the dirty business of the powerful and scrupulous people.
"It is now up to us to finish Galazia,s fight for justice. A resolution on the rule of law and money laundering in Malta and a delegation of parliamentarians are the first steps to defend our fundamental principles of democracy, rule of law and justice. It is a shame that the Socialdemocrats did neither support the plenary debate nor the delegation. When European values are a stake, the pro-European groups of this Parliament have to stand together."
A few days ago, EU Green legislators Eva Joly and Mr Giegold said in a joint statement that they wanted a “serious investigation by the European Commission on Malta's respect of the European rules against money laundering”.
"The Maltese government has failed to take serious action against high level cases of money laundering in its country," they added.
Read: EU lawmakers urge Malta money laundering inquiry
The EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said in a letter to EU Greens MEPs dated October 23 that "based on the information available so far, there appear to be no grounds to suspect a systematic breach of Union law pertaining to the prevention of money laundering" in Malta.
But she added that the Commission has requested more information from the Maltese authorities on recent cases of alleged money laundering involving Keith Schembri, the chief of staff of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.