Friday

29th Mar 2024

Malta murder crisis takes EU centre stage

  • 'We stand by the family' of the murdered journalist, EU values commissioner Vera Jourova told MEPs (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

The rule-of-law crisis in Malta made the EU centre stage in Strasbourg on Monday (17 December) after two years of inertia on the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Calls for Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat to resign rang out from most sides in a plenary European Parliament (EP) debate.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"We're faced with a criminal network that has seized control and chipped away at the pillars of our republic," Maltese opposition MEP Roberta Metsola said.

Every day Muscat stayed in power was "a slap in the face for Maltese people," Spanish centre-right MEP Esteban González Pons added.

"We're dealing with hard-nosed criminals who are ready to kill. They're not going to be terribly impressed with a bureaucratic [EU] response," Dutch Liberal MEP Sophie In 't Veld, who recently visited Malta, also said.

The debate took place amid fresh signs that Muscat's chief-of-staff and lifelong friend Keith Schembri was involved in the murder, when police raided Schembri's home and he skipped a court appearance in Valletta the same day.

Revelations of high-level guilt snowballed recently after two years in which little had happened both in Malta and at EU-level on the case.

And the new European Commission pledged to help Caruana Galizia's relatives to find out who ordered the crime.

"The family demand truth and justice and we stand with them," the Czech commissioner for EU values, Vera Jourova, said in Strasbourg.

Several MEPs urged the commission to launch a rule-of-law monitoring procedure in Malta along the lines of ongoing ones in Hungary and Poland.

But Jourova and Belgian EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders, who sat beside her, did not take up the call at this stage.

Their soft touch came despite In 't Veld, the Dutch MEP's warning on the mentality of "hard-nosed criminals".

But Jourova said: "I assure you, the commission will not hesitate to take [additional] measures if necessary."

Reynders had also sent a strongly-worded letter to the Maltese justice minister, he told MEPs, in which he had warned that Malta had "systemic" rule-of-law "issues".

For their part, Muscat's MEPs urged the EU not to get more deeply involved.

It might be "counterproductive" to police work if EU institutions took action, Maltese centre-left MEP Miriam Dalli, said.

Maltese law enforcement was "functioning well" and the EP pressure was "unjust" another Maltese socialist, Alex Aguis Saliba, also said.

But even Muscat's MEPs now spoke of the killing in more weighty terms than ever.

The 2017 murder was an "act of terror" and an "unprecedented situation that shocked the country", Dalli said, in contrast to Muscat's previous efforts to play down the crime.

Losing the plot

Metsola, the Maltese opposition MEP, took Muscat to task for his PR tactics.

"For years, our prime minister [Muscat] and his office have had a targeted PR campaign of disinformation against anybody who dared stand up to them," she said in Strasbourg.

But Tuesday's debate showed to what extent Muscat was losing control of the EU narrative.

Even some of his own friends in the centre-left Socialist & Democrats group, such as German centre-left MEP Birgit Sippel, put him on the hook.

Malta had become a "symbol of corruption" over the murder, Sippel said.

And that was mild compared to what other EU deputies threw around before the EP votes its resolution on the crisis on Wednesday.

Muscat's behaviour was "deeply shameful", he was a "moral ruin", and had "stained hands", various MEPs from around Europe said.

The EU was dealing with "mafiosos" in Valletta and must act to contain the "disease", others said.

Pressure mounts to grill Malta's Muscat at EU summit

The Dutch prime minister and figures from the European Parliament are both piling on pressure for leaders at the EU summit to discuss the rule of law in Malta, as the presence of the island-nation's prime minister draws protests.

Opinion

Does Malta's Labour Party now belong in S&D?

The Maltese Labour Party is a curious creature. No minister, MEP, MP, president, or former president has yet criticised Joseph Muscat publicly and outright over the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Opinion

Maltese murder - the next rule-of-law crisis in EU?

While Poland's government is escalating its rule of law crisis by introducing even more drastic measures against the country's judges, another problem is looming over the EU's commitment to upholding the rule of law: Malta.

Interview

Cloud of mistrust over Malta's new government

Malta's new government does not look likely to turn it into a normal, law-abiding EU state any time soon, the son of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has said.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us