Justice Minister laments Opposition’s lack of formal reaction to proposed reforms

Edward Zammit Lewis is lamenting the lack of a formal reaction from the Opposition to several reform Bills that government wants passed before the summer recess.

Five of the 10 Bills are constitutional amendments that will require the Opposition’s support to achieve a two-thirds majority.

“I have been waiting for a formal reaction from the Opposition. They first wanted to review all Bills and following their publication we still remained without any reaction,” the Justice Minister told MaltaToday.

He was miffed by an opinion piece penned by former European Commissioner Tonio Borg today in the Times of Malta on changes to government’s proposals.

In parliament, the Opposition has already voted against three of the constitutional amendments at Second Reading stage because it disagrees with a deadlock mechanism that will allow the president to be elected by a simple parliamentary majority if two-thirds support is not achieved after two votes.

It remains unclear whether the Opposition will support the Bills at the final stage.

“While noting the absence of any reply from the Opposition, today I read an article from someone who occupied the post of deputy prime minister for eight years and justice minister for five years during which such reforms were never on the agenda, let alone implemented,” Zammit Lewis said with reference to Borg.

Borg represents the Nationalist Party in wider constitutional reform talks being coordinated by President George Vella that are unrelated with the proposals put forward by the Justice Minister.

“This is not how a serious opposition should operate and communicate. I remain always open to dialogue. It must be clear however that the issue of two-thirds majority cannot be used as a sort of blackmail by the opposition,” Zammit Lewis said.

READ ALSO: Justice Minister presents 10 Bills in parliament dealing with wide-ranging reforms

Asked whether the government was willing to compromise on its proposals, the minister said the Bills reflect the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission recommendations.

He said the aim is to have the five Bills that require a two-thirds majority to be approved altogether.

 “This does not at mean government is not seeking a broad agreement on all Bills, rather to the contrary… those that called for government to adopt the Venice Commission reports, now seem willing to vote against the same legal concepts and this does not make any political or other sense,” Zammit Lewis said.

He insisted the reforms will strengthen democracy, the rule of law and good governance.

“While government remains always open to any form of dialogue, we are committed to push such reforms to become law without delay,” he added.

The reforms, which dilute the unfettered powers enjoyed until today by the prime minister, are part of a wider exercise undertaken by government since the beginning of the year to address reputational damage caused by serious cases of corruption and a lack of prosecutions on financial crime.

Malta awaits a crucial test in October when the final Moneyval report is due. The country risks grey-listing unless it delivers on law enforcement for financial crimes.

Asked how critical it is for the reforms to be enacted before the summer recess, Zammit Lewis insisted the importance of the changes went beyond the Moneyval test in October.

“Such reforms must also be implemented for other reasons, among which, the intention of government to appoint more members of the judiciary in the coming months. I expect mature collaboration from the Opposition and not unfair and uncalled for hurdles from them, even more so that the process was praised from both the Venice Commission and the European Commission President,” he said.