Recently enacted “historic” reforms meant to strengthen the rule of law in Malta have been labelled as “flawed and incomplete” by Council of Europe rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt.

Omtzigt, a Dutch MP, is the Council of Europe rapporteur on the rule of law in Malta and on the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

He gave this evaluation in an opinion piece published today in Times of Malta in the wake of the constitutional reforms approved by parliament last week.

He noted that these reforms were carried out in complete secrecy with no involvement whatsoever of civil society while most MPs had not even seen the final texts before the vote was taken.

“This is not how things are done in European democracies. They should be done differently in future,” he said.

Moreover, Omtzigt took issue with the government’s claim that the changes had been endorsed by the rule of law experts of the Council of Europe, known as the Venice Commission. 

This is not how things are done in European democracies

He noted that a full assessment could only have been done if the full texts had been sent to it and consequently called on the government to request a fresh opinion while committing itself to amend the new laws if necessary.

Omtzigt also expressed concern that the changes were rushed through due to the fact that the Moneyval deadline for progress on anti-money laundering measures was looming.

He also described the reforms as incomplete as the government had not addressed a major concern, namely the slow pace of magisterial inquiries and reforms to make parliament into an effective tool to keep government under scrutiny.

“Failure to address these fundamental problems leave gaping holes in the reform process,” Omtzigt remarked. Until action is taken the clouds of suspicion that swirled around former prime minister Joseph Muscat would remain hanging over his successor,  he warned.