Malta’s rule of law in crisis : perspectives from a captured member state

Abstract

Perhaps owing to its unique legal and political history and its status as the smallest Member State of the European Union, Malta has been largely overlooked in the fast-growing EU rule of law literature, despite suffering from substantial deficiencies characterised by lack of judicial independence, curtailment of free press, high level corruption, as well as the engagement in dubious practices such as the sale of EU citizenship. Furthermore, the Maltese case is peculiar as the government operates through systematic violations of the rule of law in its procedural guise, whereby breaches do not lie in the open repudiation of legislation and checks and balances, but rather in the lack of impartiality in the process of administration of the rules, which in turn are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Despite the lack of overt legislative misdemeanour, this practice undermines the rule of law as well as the fundamental assumption of mutual trust upon which the EU is based. The present paper will critically analyse the erosion of the rule of law in Malta, highlighting how the lack of domestic checks and balances affects sincere cooperation and the EU legal and political order as a whole. It will argue that the lack of impartiality in the judicial system, the attacks on independent media and the promotion of corruption-prone activities, such as the sale of EU citizenship, openly contradict EU values under Article 2 TEU and pervert the system in favour of a government that seeks to preserve its power and remove accountability.