Nationalist Party exponents Simon Busuttil and Jason Azzopardi have tried to block the appointment of three judges and three magistrates. Their reasoning was that the appointments are being made by the government, despite the fact that the six members of the legal profession, three of whom were already members of the judiciary as magistrates, were approved by the Judicial Appointments Committee, which is a truly independent body headed by the President of Malta. Still, according to Busuttil and Azzopardi there is no guarantee the appointed members of the judiciary would be impartial and independent in their decisions.

This is nothing less than a grave affront to all past and present members of the judiciary who have all been appointed by the government of the day. In fact, prior to 2016, all judicial appointments were made by the government in office. It was this government that introduced the necessary reform and set up the Judicial Appointments Committee.

Ironically, the European Commission has just stated that the majority of the Maltese have full trust in our judiciary. The PN only trusts the judiciary when the courts decide in its favour.