Debate: Rule of Law in Malta: years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the need to protect journalists
Date: WEDNESDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

Yes, I can confirm what I said before that the Commission is cooperating with the current Maltese Government. There is the list of recommendations which we expect Malta to implement. We have the dialogue. But of course there is nothing which can now change the horrible fact that we are still waiting for the punishment of the perpetrators of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. In other words, the family and we all are still waiting. For the family, I spoke to Daphne’s mother. I spoke to all her sons. It’s really frustrating that still the investigations are ongoing without the final result. As for the Commission – Mr Rangel has left, but I wanted to tell him – how did he say it? ‘The Commission is shy’ – the Commission is not shy at all when it comes to Malta. But, of course, we cannot intrude into the investigations. I was in Malta half a year after the murder, and I spoke to the prosecutor, I spoke to the police, to the law enforcement authorities, and of course, for me it was very sensitive territory, because I cannot interfere into the investigations of the individual case. However, the case is alarming, because it’s not only the human tragedy, the murders of Daphne, of Ján Kuciak, but also, I have to mention,  One thing is absolutely true, and I agree with all of you who said here that impunity of perpetrators, of attacks on journalists, and lack of efficient investigation, and missing or weak justice response, will lead to further injuries and further murders of journalists in the EU. I’m unhappy to say that, but this is something we have to take very seriously. Some were surprised when we included the chapter on media in our Rule of Law Report, because many thought that the rule of law means only an independent judiciary system and independent prosecutor. But we did it for a very strong reason. When you realise the connections, when you realise when the journalists are disclosing, covering the cases of high-level corruption, and they cannot rely on the protection from the sight of the state authorities, and they cannot rely on proper investigation of the cases which they are disclosing, then something systemic is wrong in such a country. That’s why we are covering both judiciary system and prosecution and anti-corruption schemes in the Member States, and the situation of the media in each country. When you look at the whole story, you see where the Member State is with the robustness and sustainability of the rule of law principles. Daphne died six years ago. But I will always repeat: she still works for other journalists, for her colleagues, because her case initiated the start of the work on the anti-SLAPP directive. It was said here: we need to finalise the negotiations of this directive with great success, which means that we will still see a very ambitious definition of cross-border cases. This is very key. I’m looking at the Presidency again. Also, it is my job to convince many Member States to also introduce such rules into domestic cases, because the majority of them refer to domestic cases. I am strongly convinced that the judges must not be abused against the freedom of speech and the work of journalists. The second also in the Media Freedom Act – and here I will close what what I wanted to say – there is a strong chapter where we want to introduce an almost absolute ban on using of spyware against journalists, and also pushing journalists to disclose the information sources. This must not be watered down in the trilogue, because the space for the Member States to use these methods must be as narrow as possible. So, ladies and gentlemen, this is still Daphne in this work, and it’s also Ján Kuciak and other journalists who showed a lot of courage in doing their job. So, I have to finalise by the sentence that in Europe journalists must do their work without fear, being sufficiently protected, because that’s the obligation of all of us, but mainly the Member States.