Prime Minister called out over public attacks on judges, journalists in latest rule of law report

As Malta’s rule of law continues to disintegrate with every passing year, both local and international experts maintain that Malta’s legal safeguards are now in active decline rather than simply stagnating, with Prime Minister Robert Abela being repeatedly called out over his public attacks on the judiciary and the free press.

In the 2026 rule of law report compiled by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, Malta is now formally classified as a “slider” rather than as a “stagnator”, which was the classification label it had received in 2025.

While a “slider” is described as a country where democratic standards are in active decline without any clear political strategy in place, a “stagnator” is defined as a country where rule of law conditions do not improve or otherwise worsen significantly.

Malta’s country report, which was compiled by local advocacy groups Aditus Foundation and the Daphne Foundation, tracks Malta’s regression through four broad categories: the justice system, the country’s anti-corruption framework, the media environment and media freedom, and the country’s checks and balances.

Across all four categories, no progress was registered. On the contrary, Malta’s anti-corruption framework was assessed as being in decline, while the justice system, the media environment, and the country’s checks and balances were assessed as largely unchanged from last year’s dismal assessment.

Prime Minister Robert Abela was name-checked multiple times in this report, with his clashes with sitting judges and the free press being explicitly cited as examples of Malta’s regression.

“The Prime Minister continued to publicly criticise specific members of the judiciary involved in magisterial inquiries into corruption scandals, undermining confidence in judicial impartiality,” the report notes.

The Shift’s ongoing defamation case against Prime Minister Robert Abela was also mentioned as a specific example of how the Prime Minister’s conduct directly contributes to the ongoing degradation of Malta’s rule of law.

“There is still a hostile environment towards journalists that continues to be fostered by the governing party, with government members attacking journalists for doing their job. In January 2025, the Prime Minister lashed out against independent news outlet The Shift News, saying that ‘90% of what they report contains falsehoods’, after several of his ministers were investigated because of news reports by this media house,” the report notes.

Generally speaking, the authors of this report note that, while the Maltese government tends to commit to implementing recommendations on paper when pressed to do so, it often fails to follow through with the steps that are required to implement recommendations and relevant legislative changes in practice.

This practice of slow-walking recommendations made by supranational entities like the European Commission and GRECO stands in stark contrast with the government’s rush to implement legislative changes which restrict the fundamental rights of citizens.

One glaring example cited in the report refers to the government’s successful implementation of Bill 125, which effectively curtailed citizens’ right to directly request a magisterial inquiry by raising the evidentiary threshold for such requests while also forcing complainants to ask for a police investigation first.

“Overall, Malta’s justice system in 2025 is characterised by under-resourcing, opaque decision-making, exclusion of key stakeholders from reforms, curtailment of public oversight, rushed legislative amendments, and ongoing threats to judicial independence and accountability,” the report argues.

Despite significant public opposition towards this amendment, the government steamrolled it through Parliament.

In contrast, a recommendation which was attached as a precondition for Malta’s request to tap into European recovery and resilience funding – an extensive review of Malta’s tribunals and other quasi-judicial bodies, which are known to be stuffed with political appointees who are vastly underqualified – remains unimplemented.

Malta’s lack of follow through with recommendations which would quickly make the governing party’s life more difficult is further compounded by the lack of oversight from European institutions, whose scrutiny of the country’s rule of law violations appears to have diminished over the years.

While problems within Malta’s judiciary system are well known, the report goes on to describe why its authors believe that Malta’s anti-corruption framework is in active regression.

Besides mentioning the government’s overt attacks on the judiciary and the free press, the authors of the report argue that the government’s “blatant disregard” for the recommendations published by the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry board, by MONEYVAL’s money laundering experts, by GRECO, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe all serve as evidence of “entrenched backsliding”.

“Backsliding is becoming entrenched, requiring urgent action, as evidenced by the many examples of ethical breaches, nepotism, inappropriate/illegal lobbying, misuse of public funds, and revolving doors tolerated or perpetrated by members of government,” the report notes.

Despite the ongoing efforts to push the Maltese government to implement recommendations made by international experts and the Prime Minister’s repeated promises to address critical legislative and enforcement gaps highlighted by supranational bodies, the gap between recommendation on paper and in reality remains vast.

The problems highlighted in this report are not unique to Malta.

In fact, 93% of the EU Commission’s rule of law recommendations for European member states were repeated from the previous year, with 61% showing little to no progress, 13% showing active backsliding, and with none of the recommendations being fully implemented by any of the member states assessed for this report.

To read the full report for Malta, click here.