Malta’s miserable showing in a survey of justice systems across the EU has set off European Commission alarm bells, Justice parliamentary secretary Owen Bonnici revealed yesterday.
Mr Bonnici hinted at the Commission’s displeasure with the Maltese justice system in a press conference calling on the public to post feedback about its concerns to specialised judicial reform website www.krhg.gov.mt.
Commission representatives have told the Government that they expect judicial reform to be prioritised – something Dr Bonnici was at pains to point out was already happening – and asked it to lay out a specific action plan for reform.
The request came after an EU Justice Scoreboard report found that Maltese citizens faced the longest delays of any justice system within the 27 member states.
Government officials have assuaged EU concerns by explaining that a Judicial Reform Commission was established last March, pre-empting Justice Scoreboard warnings about Malta’s justice system.
The Commission, led by retired judge Giovanni Bonello, has been given until the end of the year to come up with a plan for reforming local courts and judicial processes.
It is now turning to members of the public for their ideas, with the Commission eager to receive feedback by post, e-mail or online through www.krhg.gov.mt, Dr Bonnici said.
He acknowledged that certain changes would require more time than the Commission’s end-of-year timeframe but also expressed optimism that work on initial reforms could get under way as soon as Dr Bonello and his commission colleagues presented their preliminary findings in June.
“Judicial reform isn’t a switch you can just flick on or off,” Dr Bonnici conceded, “but my plan is to have a draft law with some of the Commission’s first recommendations ready by the time Parliament resumes after summer.”
Dr Bonello hoped the reform process would not be the sole domain of legal experts. “We want the public to take ownership of the process. Of course many of the things being discussed are of a technical nature, but their repercussions are felt in people’s everyday lives,” he said.
Those without internet access or with limited literacy skills would be able to voice their concerns at public consultation meetings set to take place, the former European Court of Human Rights judge added.
Malta’s judicial red card
Released last month, the EU’s Justice Scoreboard ranks member states according to the length of time it takes for non-criminal court cases to be resolved.
Findings for Malta make for dispiriting reading, with the country rock bottom when it comes to efficiency in dealing with administrative cases as well as litigious civil and commercial cases.
On average, the scoreboard found, a local civil case takes some 850 days to resolve, compared to 50 in Lithuania, just under 200 in Poland and around 300 in Spain.
A proportionally high number of lawyers – Malta has around 290 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to just 40 in the UK, for instance – is not reflected in the size of the judiciary.
With around nine judges per 100,000 people, Malta’s judiciary is proportionally smaller than any other member state’s. Slovenia comes out tops here, with 70 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Judicial problems may be partly atributed to a lack of resources: the €25 per inhabitant Malta spends on its courts is the sixth-lowest across the EU.
Justice delayed, justice denied?
Some examples of Malta’s slow-cooking justice system from the past 12 months.
March 2013 – Two men are handed a four-year sentence after spending six years locked up awaiting trial. They are now seeking financial compensation.
January 2013 – The Mediterranean Conference Centre is awarded €6.7 million in damages for a fire that took place 25 years earlier, in 1987.
November 2012 - Two club owners are given an apology after a court took six years to acquit them of running a brothel.
November 2012 – A civil court rules on the legal title of two Gozitan properties. The case was first filed in 1958.
September 2012 – A man arrested for heroin possession in 1999 is given a six-month sentence, 13 years after the act.
May 2012 – A man wins €31,000 in compensation after a tax dispute with Inland Revenue took 31 years to decide.
April 2012 – Times of Malta tells the story of two Maltese-Australians who have spent over €15,000 in air fares due to repeatedly deferred court sittings in a civil suit.