Fearne favours consultation, Abela wants pick-and-choose on Venice proposals on good governance

The Labour leadership candidate Robert Abela has signalled he would not undertake the full scale of reforms recommended by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, unlike the course of action proposed by deputy prime minister Chris Fearne.

In a debate on the Labour Party television channel, the Labour MP and one-time consultant to outgoing prime minister Joseph Muscat said the Venice Commission’s proposals should not be adopted “lock, stock and barrel”.

“There are proposals which do not make sense for our system… we have to pick and choose what to implement from it. Two of them are strengthening the President’s power to choose judicial candidates vetted by the judicial appointments commission, and creating a second public appointments committee in Parliament to scrutinise government appointments.”

But Chris Fearne has pledged to convene a conference within the first week of his tenure as prime minister, to start consultation with the Opposition and other stakeholders on rule of law in Malta, in a bid to fix good governance issues in Malta.

“I want police to investigate all allegations of corruption… including Adrian Delia himself,” Fearne said, referring to the Opposition leader and his implication in corporate services he gave to the owner of London brothels.

“Wherever there is proof, action must be taken against whoever they are. We gave police enough resources in the Caruana Galizia assassination to solve this case. We want to give this same push to the police to investigate other cases such as the Karin Grech assassination and the Enemalta oil scandal.”

Abela set much store by the fact that Labour had appointed a judicial appointments commission, albeit under pressure by the Council of Europe, and accused previous governments of abusing of that power to appoint PN-leaning magistrates and judges.

“You can never do enough on good governance. If we create an imaginary situation of perfect governance, I tell you next year we would be back here to revise it. That is how rule of law works - what is sufficient today is never enough. It is fluid and dynamic.”

The Labour leadership candidate Robert Abela has signalled he would not undertake the full scale of reforms recommended by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, unlike the course of action proposed by deputy prime minister Chris Fearne.

In a debate on the Labour Party television channel, the Labour MP and one-time consultant to outgoing prime minister Joseph Muscat said the Venice Commission’s proposals should not be adopted “lock, stock and barrel”.

“There are proposals which do not make sense for our system… we have to pick and choose what to implement from it. Two of them are strengthening the President’s power to choose judicial candidates vetted by the judicial appointments commission, and creating a second public appointments committee in Parliament to scrutinise government appointments.”

But Chris Fearne has pledged to convene a conference within the first week of his tenure as prime minister, to start consultation with the Opposition and other stakeholders on rule of law in Malta, in a bid to fix good governance issues in Malta.

“I want police to investigate all allegations of corruption… including Adrian Delia himself,” Fearne said, referring to the Opposition leader and his implication in corporate services he gave to the owner of London brothels.

“Wherever there is proof, action must be taken against whoever they are. We gave police enough resources in the Caruana Galizia assassination to solve this case. We want to give this same push to the police to investigate other cases such as the Karin Grech assassination and the Enemalta oil scandal.”

Abela set much store by the fact that Labour had appointed a judicial appointments commission, albeit under pressure by the Council of Europe, and accused previous governments of abusing of that power to appoint PN-leaning magistrates and judges.

“You can never do enough on good governance. If we create an imaginary situation of perfect governance, I tell you next year we would be back here to revise it. That is how rule of law works - what is sufficient today is never enough. It is fluid and dynamic.”