Stqarrija PR 67/2020

Stqarrija PR 67/2020 (scroll down for english version)

Ir-reazzjoni ta’ Repubblika għall-opinjoni tal-Kummissjoni Venezja (Ġunju 2020)

Repubblika tilqa’ pożittivament l-opinjoni tal-Kummissjoni Venezja dwar ir-riformi istituzzjonali. Inħarsu ‘l quddiem għax-xogħol li jrid isir biex nassiguraw li l-gvern iżomm il-wegħdiet tiegħu u naħdmu fuq ir-riformi tassew meħtieġa tal-istituzzjonijet tagħna, inklużi dawk li l-gvern ikompli jevita.

Hu ta’ sodisfazzjon li tara kif il-gvern ġie mġiegħel jaċċetta riformi fil-kompożizzjoni tal-istituzzjonijiet tagħna wara li għadda dawn l-aħħar sentejn u nofs jirreżisti bil-qawwa kollha. Dawn jinkludu, b’mod partikolari, l-esklużjoni tal-gvern mill-għażla tal-membri tal-ġudikatura. Sal-aħħar proposti ta’ Marzu ta’ din is-sena, taħt it-tmexxija ta’ Edward Zammit Lewis, il-gvern ipprova jgħaddi minn nuqqasijiet eżistenti biex jiddefendi l-poteri eċċessivi tiegħu. Fuq dan, il-gvern kellu bil-fors iċedi.

Madanakollu, kif sostniet l-istess Kummissjoni Venezja, għadna fi stadju “konċettwali”. Il-provi vera għal riforma awtentika għadna rridu naslu għalihom:

1. Għad irridu naraw abbozz legiżlattiv u għad irridu ningħataw l-opportunità li nikkumentaw fuqu, qabel ma jittieħed il-Parlament. Il-gvern irid jaċċetta r-rakkomandazzjoni tal-Kummissjoni Venezja u jissottometti l-abbozz għar-reviżjoni, qabel ma jigu ippubblikati formalment il-liġijiet proposti.
2. Anke wara li l-Parlament ikun adotta liġijiet ġodda, il-gvern irid jara li jiġu implimentati. Il-Parlament ilu ħafna li għamel bidliet legali f’dak li għandu x’jaqsam mal-avukat Generali, iżda dawn baqgħu injorati. Il-gvern ma jistax jaħseb li jista’ jeħles mill-Kummissjoni Venezja bl-istrateġija banali li jwassal lill-Parlament li jaddotta liġijiet sbieħ , li mbagħad il-gvern jibqa’ ma jimplimentax.
3. Dawk il-persuni li jokkuppaw pożizzjonijiet ta’ awtorità fl-istituzzjonijiet indipendenti jridu jaġixxu b’azzjonijiet li tippermettilhom il-liġi, u mhux b’servizz lejn il-partit politiku li jappoġġaw, jew b’biża mill-politiku li pogġihom f’dik il-pożizzjoni, iżda b’servizz lejn il-pajjiż u skont il-kuxjenza tagħhom.

Bidliet legiżlattivi m’huma xejn fil-qrib biex jibdew ifejqu l-marda tal-impunità u tal-illegalità f’Malta. Fl-istess jum li l-gvern kien qed jiftaħar li kien abbanduna r-reżistenza banali tiegħu għall-modernizzazzjoni tal-liġijiet tagħna, kellu wkoll jaffronta l-fatt li l-aħbarijiet internazzjonali kienu qed jirrapportaw skandlu ieħor, illegalitajiet oħra kommessi minn sħab Robert Abela u Edward Zammit Lewis.

Il-vera raġuni li jrid ikun hemm indipendenza għall-pulizija, għall-prosekuturi u għall-imħallfin hi biex nies bħal Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi u Chris Cardona ma jaħarbux mill-ġustizzja. Jidher li għadna ‘l bogħod ħafna biex ngħaddu minn din il-prova, minkejja l-assigurazzjonijiet ta’ Robert Abela li “għandna nafdaw fl-istituzzjonijiet” li fallew bil-qawwa f’dawn l-aħħar 7 snin.

Kif inhuma l-affarijiet preżentement, kulħadd jaf li f’Malta ma tikkmandax il-liġi. Il-kriminali huma dawk li jiggvernaw.

Repubblika mhix partit politiku u għalhekk ma tħobbx tiftaħar b’dak li tikseb. Aħna bla dubju kburin li x-xogħol u l-azzjoni tas-soċjetà ċivili wasslu biex Joseph Muscat jirriżenja minn Prim Ministru fl-2019. Bħal kif aħna kburin meta naraw li l-gvern kellu jħabbar riformi li qatt qabel ma ried jikkonsidra.

Kif juri b’mod ċar ir-rapport tal-Kummissjoni Venezja, hemm ħafna aktar xi jsir u ħafna aktar x’jinbidel.

Ir-riforma ġudizjarja ġiet mgħaġġla u mogħtija priorità mill-gvern minħabba l-kawża li fetħet Repubblika f’April 2019 u li issa fuqha qed nistennew id-deċiżjoni tal-Qorti Ewropea tal-Gustizzja. Il-gvern kellu jimplimenta l-bidliet biex jevita konsegwenzi imbarazzanti ta’ dik id-deċiżjoni, li, b’kull mod, kienet iġiegħlu jagħmel il-bidliet li l-Kummissjoni Venezja irrakkomandat sentejn u nofs ilu.

Repubblika lesta li tirtira l-każ tagħha mill-Qorti Ewropea tal-Ġustizzja hekk kif tkun tassew sodisfatta li l-liġijiet ġodda li jiġu sottomessi lill-Parlament jinkludu b’mod sħih ir-rakkomandazzjonijiet tal-Kummissjoni Venezja u imbuttati minn Repubblika.

Aħna se nibqgħu nfittxu modi kif nixprunaw lill-gvern biex jaġixxi u jimxi skont ir-regolamenti demokratiċi Ewropej u internazzjonali. Se nagħmlu hekk anke jekk nkunu akkużati li aħna tradituri u li naħdmu kontra Malta, bħal kif dejjem konna ikkunsidrati minn dan il-gvern mill-mument tat-twaqqif tagħna.

Aħna se nkomplu nistennew li persuni f’pożizzjonijiet għolja f’istituzzjonijiet indipendenti jaġixxu kif mistenniminn hom u jkunu indipendenti mill-gvern. Dan jgħodd b’mod partikolari għall-membri tal-ġudikatura. Li tiġi eskluża interferenza tal-gvern f’ħatriet futuri ma jbiddilx il-fatt li l-ġudikatura kif inhi llum hi maħkuma minn seba’ snin ta’ abbuż fil-ħatriet li saru minn dan il-gvern. Għaddejna minn sentenzi tal-ġudikatura li jistgħu jiġuspjegati  biss mix-xeħta partiġjana tal-imħallef jew maġistrat. Dan hu inacċċettabbli għal kollox u aħna se nibqgħu nikxfu u nikkundannaw dan l-abbuż.

Anke waqt li nibqgħu xettiċi dwar kemm l-istituzzjonijiet tagħna  – il-pulizija, il-maġistrati, l-Avukat Ġenerali – jistgħu u jridu jirreżistu l-indħil tal-gvern u l-abbuż tad-drittijiet umani, u jħassru l-impunità li jgawdu il-kriminali li ġejjien jew huma assoċjati mal-qasam politiku, aħna se nibqgħu nġibu quddiemhom ilmenti, rapporti u evidenzi, u nisfidawhom biex jieħdu azzjoni kif suppost jagħmlu skond il-liġijiet li huma ta’ spiss jinjoraw.

Aħna qed naħdmu għal Malta demokratika, fejn in-nies ikunu ħielsa mit-tirannija, u fejn igawdu d-drittijiet tagħhom, ikun kemm ikun inkonvenjenti għal min ikun fil-gvern. Nittamaw li dawn ir-riformi jwasslu għal mument tant mixtieq f’din il-missjoni.

Repubblika tesprimi l-gratitudini tagħha lejn il-Kummissjoni, ir-rapporteur tagħha u l-Assemblea Parlamentari fil-Kunsill tal-Ewropa, partikolarment lil Pieter Omtzigt, rapporteur tal-PACE, li impenja ruħu fil-Kummissjoni Venezja, minkejja ir-reżistenza, kif ukoll oppożizzjoni, mill-gvern ta’ Malta.

Repubblika’s Reaction To The Venice Commission Opinion (June 2020)

Repubblika welcomes the Venice Commission’s opinion on institutional reforms. We look forward to the effort ahead of us to ensure the government delivers on its promises and to work on the much needed reforms to our institutions, including the ones the government continues to avoid.

It is satisfying to see that the government has been forced to accept reforms to our institutional set-up that it spent the last two and a half years forcefully resisting. These especially include the exclusion of the government from the choice of members of the judiciary. Right up to its last proposals in March this year under the stewardship of Edward Zammit Lewis, the government was trying to get away with loopholes intended to preserve its excessive powers. In this respect, the government has finally had to give in.

But as the Venice Commission insisted yesterday we are still at a “conceptual” stage. The real tests for genuine reform are ahead of us:

1. We are yet to see draft legislation and to be given the opportunity to comment on it before it goes to Parliament. The government must take up the Venice Commission’s offer of submitting the drafts for its review before formal publication of Bills.
2. Even after Parliament adopts new laws, the government will need to bring them into force. Parliament has long adopted legal changes to the public prosecutor’s office which have remained a dead letter. The government must not think it can get the Venice Commission off its back with the simple device of getting Parliament to adopt fancy laws, that the government proceeds not to implement.
3. People occupying positions of authority in independent institutions must act within all the initiative given to them at law, not in the service of the political party they support or in fear of the politician that put them there, but in service of the country and according to their conscience.

Legislative changes are nowhere near enough to start healing Malta’s state of impunity and lawlessness. On the same day the government congratulated itself for abandoning its futile resistance to the modernisation of our laws, it also had to face the fact the world news was reporting another scandal, more crimes perpetrated by the colleagues of Robert Abela and Edward Zammit Lewis.

The whole point of having independent police, prosecutors and judges is so that people like Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi and Chris Cardona face justice. It seems we’re very far from passing that test in spite of Robert Abela’s assurances that we “must trust the institutions” that have failed us so miserably over the last 7 years.

As things stand, it is clear to one and all that the law does not rule in Malta. Crooks continue to rule.

Repubblika is not a political party and is therefore not in the habit of claiming credit for its achievements. We are no doubt proud that civil society activism forced Joseph Muscat out of power in 2019. As we are proud that we are now seeing the government announce reforms it never wanted to consider.

As the Venice Commission report clearly shows, there is much more to do, and much more to change.

Judicial reform has been precipitated and prioritised by the government because of Repubblika’s lawsuit filed in April 2019 and now awaiting a decision of the European Court of Justice. The government needed to implement the changes to avoid an embarrassing outcome of that decision, which, in any case, would have forced it to make changes the Venice Commission recommended two and a half years ago.

Repubblika is ready to withdraw its case in the ECJ once it is fully satisfied that the bills submitted to Parliament fully embrace the recommendations put forward by the Venice Commission, and urged by Repubblika. 

We will continue to look for ways to spur the government into action and to comply with European and international democratic norms. We’ll do that even if we’re accused of treason and of working against Malta, as we have been by this government throughout our existence.

We continue to expect holders of offices in independent institutions to be true to their function and to act independently of the government. This is especially the case for members of the judiciary. Excluding the government’s interference in future appointments does not change the fact that the judiciary as it exists today has been captured by 7 years of abuse in appointments to the bench made by the government. We have experienced judicial rulings explained only by the partisan bias of the judge or magistrate. This is totally unacceptable and we will continue to expose and denounce this abuse.

Even as we remain sceptical of the willingness and ability of our institutions – the police, magistrates, the Attorney General – to resist government encroachment and the abuse of human rights, and to reverse impunity enjoyed by criminals coming from or associated with the political world, we will continue to bring to them complaints, reports and evidence to challenge them to take the action they are required to take by laws which they all too often disregard.

We are working for a democratic Malta where people are free of tyranny and where their rights are within reach, however inconvenient that may be to any government in power. We hope these reforms prove to be a welcome milestone in that mission.

Repubblika expresses its gratitude to the Commission, its rapporteurs and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, particularly PACE rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt, that engaged the Venice Commission in spite of the resistance, often even opposition, of Malta’s government.