The European Parliament is sending its own investigative mission to Malta to examine the state of the rule of law in the EU country. This decision was made on the proposal of the European Greens due to recent new developments in the investigation into the 2017 murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The European Parliament will discuss the case in December.
Shortly after the murder, the parliament also sent a mission to Malta, which at the time also expressed concerns about corruption and the independence of the investigation. The European Parliament stated last year that it would not rest until those responsible have been prosecuted. The new mission should also focus on any links between Prime Minister Muscat and the murder, according to the Greens among others. He is said to have shielded those involved.
Dutch parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt has also been deeply engaged in the case. As rapporteur for the Council of Europe, he conducted his own investigation earlier this year, identifying serious shortcomings in Malta’s rule of law and expressing harsh criticism of Muscat. Omtzigt sees severe flaws in Malta’s judicial system. There is a massive conflict of interest in Maltese politics. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat appoints judges, the police chief, and ministers. In addition, parliamentary oversight of the government is insufficient.
The abuses in Malta also pose a threat to the rest of the European Union. Malta has long been under scrutiny abroad. For example, the microstate is known as the Panama of the European Union. Multinational corporations can evade billions of euros in taxes there thanks to very low tax rates. Maltese politicians themselves have also been linked to tax avoidance. For instance, the high-profile Panama Papers included the names of two Maltese ministers. They allegedly funneled money from a dubious energy deal through companies in Panama.
Furthermore, according to the European Banking Authority (EBA), Malta fails in financial supervision related to money laundering and terrorism financing. The country acts contrary to the EU’s anti-money laundering directive, the regulator wrote in a scathing report last year.
Since 2014, the island has earned hundreds of millions of euros annually by selling Maltese (and thus EU) passports. For around 900,000 euros, a buyer receives a Maltese passport and thereby becomes a citizen of the European Union. Buyers can travel to EU countries without visas or stringent checks, open bank accounts, and start companies. Independent researchers have already called this a 'threat to the yellow EU.'
Prime Minister Muscat has convened the Maltese government for an emergency meeting. Three ministers have already resigned, and the chief of staff of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, was initially also arrested. A businessman who allegedly paid for the murder points to Schembri as the mastermind behind the killing. The chief of staff has since been released. The businessman has requested amnesty in exchange for cooperating with the investigation.