The EP’s ‘rule of law’ resolution on Malta: what does it say?

11 major points from the European Parliament's resolution on the rule of law in Malta

The European Parliament’s resolution on rule of law in Malta has sent a powerful message to the European Council, the Commission, and of course Malta: 466 MEPs from all political groupings voted in favour of the resolution, while 167, mostly from Labour’s political family the Socialists and Democrats, abstained; 49 MEPs voted against, of which 15 were socialists.

Check out who voted here, refer to B8-0597/2017 - Résolution

While non-binding, the resolution represents the resolve of the MEPs to bring Malta to attention on the values of the EU, human rights, press freedoms, and the investigation of corruption allegations, now more pressing in the aftermath of the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

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Here are the main points of the EP resolution

1. A condemnation of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and a call for the Maltese government to deploy all necessary resources to bring her murderers to justice;

2. The EP also wants an independent international investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia with Europol involvement;

3. Malta has a Whistleblowers’ Act but the EP reminds Malta to ensure the protection of journalists’ and whistle-blowers’ personal safety and livelihoods;

4. The EP wants to create a Daphne Caruana Galizia prize for investigative journalism;

5. The EP says developments in Malta in recent years have led to serious concerns about the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights, including freedom of the media and the independence of the police and the judiciary;

6. It wants the European Commission to establish a dialogue with the Maltese Government regarding the functioning of the rule of law in Malta;

7. It says several serious allegations of corruption and breach of anti-money laundering and banking supervision obligations have not been investigated by the police in Malta, which represents a threat to the rule of law in this Member State; and while there are several magisterial inquiries under way regarding some of these allegations, no police investigation on Panama Papers and the PEPs in the leaked FIAU reports ever took place;

8. On the report by the Panama Papers committee, the EP says the public institutions in charge of compliance, fraud and financial crime are highly politicised;

9. It wants a verification as to whether Malta is in compliance with anti-money laundering rules, which have been transposed by Malta;

10. It wants an investigation into the licensing process of Pilatus Bank and compliance investigation of auditors Nexia BT with anti-money laundering rules;

11. It wants the EC to monitor the IIP passport sale.