Updated with Speaker's reaction at 12.55pm

Opposition leader Adrian Delia has criticised a decision by the Speaker rejecting his request for a hall at the parliament building to be named after journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Speaker Anġlu Farrugia turned down the request on the grounds that the move could be perceived as eroding the impartiality of the House of Representatives.

But Delia in a letter to Farrugia on Monday said Caruana Galizia used to level criticism regardless of one’s political affiliation.

“This kind of journalism is essential for a democracy and we are bound to safeguard it,” the Opposition leader said.  

“Parliament cannot be neutral or remain silent when a journalist is killed for her work,”  he said. 

It had a duty to defend and commemorate those who paid with their life for fulfilling their journalistic duty.

“This is what the European Parliament has done. It not only decided to name a hall after Caruana Galizia but has also launched a prize for investigative journalism,” the Opposition leader told the Speaker.

Parliament’s decision to reject this proposal was reminiscent of those who wanted to erase Caruana Galizia's memory and hinder the calls for justice. This also went against democracy itself, Delia said while urging the Speaker to reconsider.

The Opposition leader had made his suggestion on  May 3. The proposal was touched upon during a House Business Committee last week. Asked by Opposition Whip Robert Cutajar if the government endorsed the proposal, Justice Minister Edward Zammit had not committed himself.

The government’s position was of secondary importance given that the decision rested with the Speaker who was head of parliamentary services, which by law are an autonomous institution, Zammit Lewis said.

Speaker Farrugia said he subscribed to the Opposition’s view that the House should start marking World Press Freedom Day.

However,  the impartiality of the institution should be the top priority. Consequently, in order to avoid any perception of the House being biased, the Chair believed that no part of the building should be named after anybody, even people who were not within the political sphere. Consequently, the Opposition’s request could not be accepted, he said.

Speaker refutes claims he is trying to erase memory of the slain journalist

File photo (Darrin Zammit Lupi)

In a tit-for-tat exchange, on Tuesday Farrugia replied saying he had no intention to erase the memory of this brutal murder nor hinder the course of justice. The Speaker, who prior to his venture in politics was a police inspector, said such attempt would be deplorable and constitute a criminal act.

However, Farrugia insisted that his refusal was meant to safeguard parliament’s “neutrality”.  The Chair is adopting the same guidelines even for persons who had distinguished themselves in Malta’s democratic development, such those who were crucial for the country’s independence, republican status, EU accession and even the Sette Giugno victims.

“As soon as a hall is named in honour of somebody, questions will be raised on why this person and not somebody else, and this will fuel controversy despite all the good intentions behind the gesture and all the good deeds that person might have done in his or her life,” the Speaker said.

Farrugia insisted the Chair adopted this stance in order to avoid such instances even though it was well aware it would not score any points with particular sectors of society.

My only interest is to be impartial in the interest of this institution, Farrugia said.

See the exchange of correspondence by clicking on pdf files below.