The visit by a delegation of MEPs to Malta did absolutely nothing to put people’s minds at rest that the rule of law in this country is being respected. On the contrary, the visiting European parliamentarians returned to Brussels, in the words of Green MEP Sven Giegold, “even more worried” than when they arrived.
When asked whether the rest of the delegation shared Mr Giegold’s sentiment, Portuguese Socialist MEP Ana Gomes, who led the two-day fact-finding mission, replied: “Unfortunately it is”. And so should every citizen be concerned who looks beyond the economy and their own prosperity to gauge the health of a nation, a measure of which is surely the degree to which the governors and the governed are treated equally before the law.
From their meetings with the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, the Police Commissioner and representatives of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit and the Malta Financial Services Authority, the MEPs emerged with the belief there is a widespread feeling of impunity fuelled by lack of action by the authorities. “No investigations and no prosecutions,” Ms Gomes said pointedly, in particular reference to the revelations contained in the Panama Papers.
While they regarded the discussion they had with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as “useful” they noted the delegation did not meet his chief of staff Keith Schembri, who only showed up alongside the Prime Minister to read out a prepared statement. He claimed he could not answer concrete questions because of a judicial inquiry. But his silence only served to raise further suspicions about his alleged wrongdoing and to underscore the very impunity which was so obvious to the MEPs. Mr Schembri had nowhere to hide.
The delegation expressed concern about the “unclear separation of powers” in Malta while Ms Gomes pointed out she was worried about the “accumulation of powers” enjoyed by the Attorney General, adding she believed such powers were “not fully used when it comes to fighting corruption and money laundering”.
The delegation will now be drawing up a report that will be published and forwarded to the European Parliament’s conference of presidents, which brings together the chamber’s president and the leaders of the political groups. Mr Giegold said the delegation had agreed to work together on a mission report that would include recommendations and “a continued dialogue with the European Commission in the run-up to an Article 7 procedure”.
This is an EU infringement process which can be used against Member States accused of violating the EU’s fundamental values, defined as “liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law”. Article 7 has never been activated as it is viewed as a drastic step indeed, although there have been discussions on triggering it, most recently in the cases of Poland and Hungary. But it is not a prospect that Malta should be dismissing or taking lightly.
Under Article 7, a Member State could first be declared to be at risk of a serious breach of the fundamental values, and recommendations could be made on how to resolve this situation. As a further step, it could be found that a “serious and persistent breach” has occurred. These steps would be up to the Council of Ministers in a procedure that entails various degrees of joint action by the European Commission and European Parliament.
One sanction under Article 7 is the suspension of the country’s voting rights, meaning that it would be excluded from EU decision making but still be subject to EU rules. That’s an extreme scenario and we hope it never comes remotely close to that.
The government knows exactly what it has to do to stop any further discussion along these lines and avoid the risk of putting Malta in such an embarrassing and extremely damaging situation.
This is a Times of Malta print editorial