Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's decision to call a snap general election on June 3 did not just draw the curtain on the political career of several MPs - it also slammed the door shut on many pieces of pending legislation. 

Changes granting "exceptional" individuals Maltese citizenship, media law amendments doubling libel penalties and a Bill giving residents the power to directly petition their local council, were among the legislative items which have fallen by the wayside following the dissolution of parliament last Monday.  

With Malta's 12th legislature done and dusted, these proposed legal changes and a host of others will now go back to the drawing board and will have to be moved afresh by future MPs if they are ever to become law. 

READ: Curtain falls on political career of several MPs

The wiping out of parliamentary progress will be especially frustrating to anyone with a stake in Bills which had made it to the committee stage, with amendments which were tantalisingly close to becoming law sliding out the door and into legislative oblivion. 

So near and yet so far

Malta's disability sector can feel especially hard done by, with two pieces of legislation falling victim to parliament's sudden dissolution. 

Proposed amendments to the Equal Opportunities Act would have made the National Commission for Persons with Disability answerable to parliament rather than the government, with its chairman and members appointed by a two-thirds majority of MPs. The bill was presented by PN MP Stephen Spiteri.

Two legal amendments affecting people living with disability have been wiped away. Photo: ShutterstockTwo legal amendments affecting people living with disability have been wiped away. Photo: Shutterstock

A separate legislative measure, proposed from the government's side of the House, sought to entrench the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into Maltese law. Malta signed the Convention in 2007 and ratified it in 2012, but its provisions have yet to be enshrined in local legislation.

A much-discussed - and vociferously contested - update to local media laws has also been consigned to the dustbin of history.

The updated law would have wiped criminal libel off the books but doubled fines for libel while protecting journalists from warrants freezing their bank accounts. A provision requiring online news sites to register themselves was dropped following howls of protest, though some of the Bill's other provisions had also been slammed by anything from authors to constitutional lawyers

It's back to the drawing board for much-debated updates to media laws. Photo: ShutterstockIt's back to the drawing board for much-debated updates to media laws. Photo: Shutterstock

Amendments making people serving life sentences eligible for parole will also have to be returned to parliament anew if they are to make it into law. The amendments follow a Constitutional Court judgement and would bring Malta in line with European Court of Human Rights rulings. 

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici's proposed bill granting the power to bestow Maltese citizenship on anyone deemed to have made an “exceptional” contribution to the country - most notably scientists, researchers, athletes and artists - did not make it past its second reading. 

MPs miss out on pension amendments

MPs from either side of the House are likely to rue the demise of a pensions Bill which would have broadened pensions entitlements for parliamentarians and high-level civil servants.

Presented by Economy Minister Chris Cardona, the amendments would have allowed MPs who quit their seat to take up a place in the European Parliament – or MEPs who did the opposite and assumed a seat locally – to count those terms towards qualifying for a parliamentary pension. The Bill would also have allowed a Speaker not selected from among sitting MPs to qualify for such a pension. 

Hoping to force a local council to acknowledge your petition? You'll have to wait. Photo: ShutterstockHoping to force a local council to acknowledge your petition? You'll have to wait. Photo: Shutterstock

Local councils would have become more accountable to their citizens had a proposal to introduce a petitioning mechanism seen the light of the day. The proposal would have allowed citizens to force attention to a pressing local issue by presenting petitions signed by one-fifth of a town's voters to their respective councils.

Two separate amendments to animal rights laws also fell by the wayside. A Bill presented by PN MP Mario Galea had sought to ban electronic collars and make it illegal to chain animals. Separate amendments presented by the Environment Minister would have granted the minister more powers to enact regulations to protect animals from irresponsible owners. 

Locked up animals have yet to benefit from legal protection. Photo: ShutterstockLocked up animals have yet to benefit from legal protection. Photo: Shutterstock

PN MP Jason Azzopardi's private member's bill to tighten rules related to judicial appointments never made it past the second reading. Dr Azzopardi's proposals would have established a 15-year minimum experience requirement, 10 of which in local courts, for lawyers to qualify to be made magistrates or judges. Limits are currently set at seven and 12 years respectively.

It would also have raised the judiciary’s retirement age from 65 to 68 years – a proposal that was suddenly dropped by the government when it reformed the judicial appointment system last year.

Amendments to the Periti Act, first tabled way back in October 2013 by Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi but subsequently buried, have also been ditched. 

The amendments would have tightened government control over a board tasked with awarding warrants to local architects and civil engineers, regulating warrant criteria and approving teaching institutions tasked with training periti.

Honorary citizenship for 'exceptional' individuals will have to wait.Honorary citizenship for 'exceptional' individuals will have to wait.


As things stand, the board is made up of six members and a chairman, with the minister empowered to appoint the chairman and two of the six members.

The amendments would have added a further two members appointed by the minister to the board. To add insult to injury, a requirement for board members to have eight years of experience would have been waived for the two new members.

Other draft laws which never made it past the committee stage include one to establish a Care Standards Authority regulating the care sector, a Bill establishing nursing home standards, amendments abolishing Gozo's court of magistrates in its superior jurisdiction and extending the jurisdiction of Maltese civil courts to the sister island and amendments overhauling consultative bodies related to the fisheries sector, turning what is now the Fisheries Board into the Fisheries and Aquaculture Consultative Council.  

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