“Konrad Mizzi cannot run away forever”

“Disgraced Minister Konrad Mizzi ran away and hid from the European Parliament delegation’s visit in Malta. He can run and run, but he cannot hide forever”, said Member of the European Parliament for Malta and Gozo Roberta Metsola in the European Parliament today.

Speaking at the publication of the mission report to Malta and Slovakia of the European Parliament’s Rule of Law Monitoring Group, MEP Metsola underlined that a permanent mechanism to safeguard EU values is urgently needed.

She said “I think what we saw in Slovakia and Malta requires action, necessitates a policy-driven approach and underlines again the need for an independent rule of law mechanism that looks at every State in the Union. Our mission gives us an idea of some of the challenges we will face in the future when it comes to safeguards for the correct functioning of the rule of law across Member States, ensuring media freedom and stepping up the fight against corruption and impunity.”

MEP Metsola emphasised that “the report highlights some key findings including the need to significantly step up the fight against corruption and a call for the politically exposed persons linked to be investigated.”

Turning to the question of protecting media freedom, MEP Metsola reiterated her call for action on SLAPP lawsuits “which is crucial if independent and smaller media houses are to survive huge corporate interests acting in tandem with unscrupulous politicians.”

MEP Metsola praised the report’s call for the publication of a stand-alone list of anyone who has purchased Maltese citizenship, saying that “there are well documented security and social concerns with the outright sale of Maltese and EU passports and this can and should be tackled”.

The European Parliament report also endorses the call to immediately publish the Bugeja enquiry report in full – something that the Leader of the Partit Nazzjonalista has long called for.

MEP Metsola also praised the report’s conclusions that – 400 days from the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia – call for the hate campaign against her family and memory to end and for a solution to be found for the makeshift memorial calling for justice in Valletta.

MEP Metsola concluded “Solving this heinous crime would be extremely welcome and we will continue to demand justice, accountability and truth both for Daphne Caruana Galizia and for the stories she was working on. In 400 days, our voices have not faded nor will they.”