A Draft Bill encompassing several measures aimed at expediting civil procedure is due to be published for public consultation in the coming days. The Bill, however, does not take on board one of the major proposals made by the Bonello Commission: that government relinquishes its power to appoint members of the judiciary.
However, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told The Malta Independent on Sunday that the government is willing to study and discuss this proposal as well as others that are also of a constitutional nature.
To date, no party in government has been willing to relinquish the power to appoint magistrates and judges to the bench.
The Commission for a Holistic Law Reform, headed by former European Court of Human Rights Judge Giovanni Bonello, has criticised the current appointments system and called for a change.
Dr Bonello had said in a recent interview that he believed Malta to be “the only country in the democratic world where the judiciary is appointed at the sole and unfettered whim of politicians”.
President of the Chamber of Advocates George Hyzler echoed his call earlier this week and insisted that the executive “must relinquish its unfettered right to appoint members of the judiciary”. In an interview published today (see page 7), Dr Hyzler says that a shortlist of eligible candidates should be submitted to the government by the Commission for the Administration of Justice.
Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri expressed a slightly different view on Wednesday saying that, although the actual nomination had to remain an administrative decision entrusted to the Justice Minister, he saw no harm in starting the process earlier for the matter to be discussed by the Commission for the Administration of Justice prior to making the appointment public.
Despite these calls, the government will not be changing the system for now although changes to the present one are not being excluded. In an official reply to questions sent by this paper, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said: “The Bonello report contains 450 proposals relating to various aspects of the Administration of Justice.
The government wasted no time in starting to implement a substantial number of those proposals, particularly those relating to measures which attracted general consensus and which have the aim of expediting proceedings. The list of laws, legal instruments and administrative measures which were taken in this context in the last months is endless.
In the coming days, the government will publish another Bill, based on a number of proposals contained in the Bonello report, aimed at expediting civil procedure. This comes as no surprise as this was announced in the last budget.
Other proposals, particularly those of a constitutional nature including the appointment, conditions of office, discipline and dismissal of the judiciary merit further study and discussion since they must be read as a whole and not in isolation of one from the other.”
A government source said that while the government does not intend to relinquish all power there is agreement that the system of appointing members to the judiciary needs to be made more transparent. This paper is also informed that, while the government is willing to relinquish some of that power, it would in return require a more stringent disciplinary structure for members of the judiciary.