If Bulgaria can protect journalists from domestic SLAPPS, Malta can too - Casa

MEP David Casa has called on the Government to extend Malta’s anti-SLAPP protections to purely domestic cases as part of its forthcoming media reform, following Bulgaria’s decision to introduce such safeguards.

Bulgaria has decided to go beyond the minimum requirements of the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive by extending protections to proceedings that are entirely domestic.

“If Bulgaria can do it, Malta can do it. There is no justification for leaving Maltese journalists less protected simply because the person trying to silence them happens to be in Malta,” Casa said.

Casa was the first Maltese politician to call for a European anti-SLAPP directive and spearheaded efforts for such legislation to be proposed and adopted at EU level.

Malta’s implementation currently covers the cross-border cases required by EU law, leaving purely domestic cases outside those protections.

The gap is particularly significant in Malta, where research by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation documented 91 SLAPP cases between 2010 and 2024.

The Nationalist Party’s proposed Omnibus Bill to implement outstanding recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Public Inquiry also includes stronger anti-SLAPP protection among its proposed reforms.

“The Opposition has already put stronger anti-SLAPP protection on the table. Bulgaria has now shown that Member States can go beyond the European minimum and protect journalists from abusive litigation at home too.”

Casa said the government’s promised reform should now explicitly close the domestic SLAPP gap.

“Daphne’s Law exists because powerful actors can use litigation to intimidate and silence journalists. That threat does not disappear because both sides happen to be in Malta.”

“Nine years after Daphne’s assassination, Maltese journalists should not still be waiting for protections we already know are needed.”