Jason Azzopardi suggests ban on employment promotions in run-up to elections

Jason Azzopardi is proposing an amendment to the constitution that would ban employment transfers and promotions in the run-up to an election.

In the event that an election is called and parliament is adjourned, the proposed amendment would prohibit government from offering work transfers, employing new workers and offering promotions to curry political favour.

The amendment would also ban the granting of construction permits or signing of infrastructure contracts during this period.

“If you really want to show that Malta is ‘best practice’, and if you really want to change the route that brought ruin to Malta’s name, we are ready,” he said.

The Nationalist MP made the suggestion during a parliamentary speech, where he put forward several other proposals on justice reform. Among those proposals is the protection of Maltese journalists from SLAPP lawsuits, criminalising obstructions of justice, and making it a criminal offence for public officials to use private emails for government work.

Azzopardi put forward several other criticisms on government’s justice reforms. Bringing up comments made by the Association of Judges and Magistrates, the MP blamed government for delays in court rulings. “The fact that the Association spoke out on this is a big deal as they are implicitly saying that the delays in court cases is the government’s fault. This is an incompetence we see almost everyday through long queues outside the law courts.”

Read more: Justice Minister says court delays due to inefficiency, not judge shortage

He also hit out at Edward Zammit Lewis for claiming that the European Commission praised Malta for being ‘best practice’ in its first Rule of Law Report, even though this was not the case. The Rapporteur for the Council of Europe even questioned where he had read this, saying that “Malta was frequently mentioned in the EU rule of law report but never with the adjective ‘best practice.’”

Zammit Lewis later clarified that Politico, not the European Commission, dubbed Malta as being best practice in the rule of law reform.