The European Parliament will not only debate the rule of law in Malta, but is expected to include a motion for a resolution on the subject.
Greens MEP Sven Giegold told The Malta Independent that the plenary debate will most likely take place in the next Strasbourg session, and is thus far scheduled for 14 November. "The Parliament will not only discuss like we did last time, but we will have a resolution on the subject which is the rule of law and money laundering in Malta. You can expect quite clear positioning. So far this has only happened once before with Hungary, and there was no other country which had such a plenary debate on the rule of law in Europe. It is quite a unique situation."
"A resolution is a Parliamentary decision where we take a position. We do this regularly on Brexit, human rights and other important matters. This resolution will only be on the rule of law and money laundering in Malta. The content of the resolution is not yet known," Giegold said.
A European Parliament source said that "while the actual resolution still needs to be discussed, it is likely that in Malta's case will not go as far as the one regarding Hungary, but will probably call on the Commission to look into the rule of law in Malta." The source explained that it would not be an investigation in the criminal sense. "They would call on the Commission to, for example, look into whether the markers of proper rule of law – such as media freedom, freedom of the judiciary, freedom of thought etc. – all exist."
"What the Parliament has also agreed on, is the creation of a European Parliament Special Delegation to come to Malta which will be after the resolution which, if passed, will give a snapshot of what is going on," the source said.
Greens MEP Giegold was asked by this newsroom for his opinion on the situation in Malta. While stressing the importance of finding Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassins, Giegold could not help but note the lack of investigations into the revelations and allegations made by Caruana Galizia prior to her death.
"I appreciate that the government is doing what they can to find the murderers, but what is not happening, in addition to that, is an investigation into what Daphne Caruana Galizia had made public, and the consequences from that. This is really disturbing. By investigation, I do not just mean the Panama Papers revelations, but there is a list of issues, including FIAU findings, the processes around Pilatus Bank and accepting that the freedom of the press in Malta is not only compromised through the murder, but now by the threats of a bank against those who publish criticism against it."
"This is an unacceptable second attack on media freedom in Malta. Behind that is that the findings which were published by Daphne Caruana Galizia, which also came out of the FIAU have so far not had any serious consequences. That, to me, is the real issue - that the issues Daphne Caruana Galizia published are not being seriously followed up – possible corruption cases, sale of passports etc – and there is still no serious consequences. There is also a lot of activism now, the inclusion of the FBI etc, and strong words by Prime Minister Muscat, but when it comes to Daphne's findings there is little happening," Giegold said.
"There was an interview by a Maltese news website, where Alfred Sant made outrageous comments claiming that the criticism launched in EU Parliament on the Maltese government is criticism against small member states. This is ridiculous. It is not about whether a state is small or big, but about the fact that there are strong signs of corruption and money laundering and that thus far there have not been strong consequences in Malta. This is not about small or big, but about rule of law or not."
"While the Maltese government of course should investigate the murder, they must also at the same time take what she published seriously. The latter is simply not happening and therefore government is failing to do the second part of the job."
Giegold told this newsroom that the Maltese authorities not being able to draw serious consequences from the FIAU findings is very serious. "In addition, those financial services companies which were proven of having failed to do proper due diligence with Mossack Fonseca are still in business and there were no sanctions.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2xJDVLM
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