On anniversary of public inquiry, structural change still delayed

Three years ago today, Malta’s government received the report of the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination. Despite the Maltese State’s obligation to implement change swiftly and effectively to prevent future deaths, the report’s crucial recommendations have still not been implemented, leaving journalists at risk.

In October 2023, following more than two years of substandard proposals (OSCE RFoM 1, OSCE RFoM 2, MFRR), false claims and delays, Government promised to publish a White Paper on reforms. Government repeated its promise in a written submission to the European Commission’s rule of law report, committing to publish the promised White Paper by January 2024. No White Paper has been published yet.

In a later submission, cited in this year’s Rule of Law Report, Government promised to publish its proposed anti-SLAPP measures “by the end of July”. No new proposed measures have been published yet. This is a matter of concern, as Government’s previously proposed legislation fell short of international standards. Anti-SLAPP measures need to meet the minimum standards set out in the Recommendation of the Council of Europe and the European Directive known as Daphne’s Law.

The European Commission’s 2024 rule of law report, published last week, echoes concerns that were raised in the Public Inquiry report. It describes Malta’s failure to implement anti-corruption measures and safeguards for journalists and journalism. Among its other findings, the report states that:

• the anti-corruption recommendations issued following the public inquiry into the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have not been implemented yet;
• no legislative or other concrete measures have been adopted to improve the working environment of journalists and to reform the media landscape;
• there has been no progress on safeguards to improve access to official documents while journalists continue to face obstacles when requesting public information;
• there have been no developments to enhance the independence of public service media, to establish transparent criteria for the allocation of public funding for media outlets and to ensure fair allocation of state advertising.
• the monitoring of the implementation of the National Anti-Fraud and Corruption Strategy has faced delays;
• the Permanent Commission against Corruption’s resources have increased but it has not achieved tangible results;
• concerns remain regarding the extent of the integrity measures for persons of trust;
• concerns remain about the effectiveness of the existing whistleblowing mechanism (new tools are ‘under preparation’);
• public procurement procedures show high risks of corruption even though preventive measures exist;.
• the ‘investor citizenship scheme’ (passport sales) continues to raise concerns.

Malta urgently needs to effectively implement extensive reforms. Perpetuating the State failures that enabled Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination leaves other lives in danger. Unless those systemic failures are eliminated, it is only a matter of time before someone else is killed.