The Nationalist Party on Monday called for the appointment of a new anti-corruption commissioner with the power to prosecute suspects.
In a raft of proposals, the PN said it is also pushing for the powers to offer blanket immunity to criminal suspects, known as presidential pardons, to be taken away from the prime minister and handed to the president.
The proposals come days after the government unveiled plans to tweak key institutions in response to an expert report drawn up by the Venice Commissioner in December 2018.
Speaking at a press conference on Net TV, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said the prime minister’s powers were akin to those of a feudal king. He said all three pillars of democracy needed to be boosted and kept independent of each other.
“These institutions need to work for the people, not the government of the day”, Delia said.
Delia also spoke of the need to protect journalists and strengthen the independent media.
PN MP Chris Said, who led the Opposition delegation at talks on constitutional changes, remarked that the government had not even bothered consulting the Opposition about its proposals, published last week in response to the Venice Commission report.
The MP said the Opposition had been ready to discuss its own proposals in the steering committee on constitutional change.
Said emphasised that the PN’s proposals aim to distribute power more evenly, to ensure that people’s rights are protected.
He said the PN is proposing the appointment of a commissioner against corruption, whose orders the police would have to follow when probing corruption cases.
The PN is also proposing that MPs should not take up any role in government, not even as consultants.
He said the PN agreed with the Venice Commission’s proposal to limit the number of persons of trust that can be appointed to a minister’s secretariat.
Anti-SLAPP lawsuit measures should be introduced to protect journalists by making judgements handed down in foreign courts unenforceable in Malta, Said continued.
He expressed the Opposition’s support for handing more powers to the president, on the condition that his appointment is sealed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. The president is currently appointed by a simple majority.
Among the new powers, the Opposition is insisting the president should be able to send anti-constitutional laws back to Parliament.
On judicial appoints, Said said the Judicial Appointments Committee should send a ranked list of candidates for such appointments to the president rather than the government.