“We do not have to wait for any European legislation for Labour’s politicians to surrender their power to spy on our citizens,” PN MEP David Casa insisted. 

MEP David Casa was reacting to news that the Maltese Government was lobbying for a broadly worded exception to allow spying on journalists in the context of ongoing negotiations on the EU’s Media Freedom Act.

“Right now in Malta politicians are able to approve warrants for the interception of citizens’ communications without judicial approval or oversight. This state of affairs is all the more worrying in the context of the rule of law collapse Malta has experienced over the last years”.

“The public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia has already indicated that it is time to change the way that warrants for surveillance are issued. This vulnerability whereby the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister have the power to surveil citizens must cease,” Casa recalled.

“This is not a power that should be in the hands of a politician, but rather it should be for the judiciary alone to grant such intrusive powers and only after due consideration of legal constraints.”

Casa said that when it comes to journalists, the situation is all the more delicate and sensitive.

“If surveillance is allowed, then it must come with the most stringent and robust safeguards that protect the crucial principle of the protection of sources and the necessity not to interfere with their investigative work.

“However we know all too well the abysmal track record of the current Maltese Government when it comes to respect for journalists.

“Government should act immediately to change the relevant law and in the meantime, it should withdraw its support for a broad text within the European Media Freedom Act that would allow for surveillance on journalists for undefined national security interests.

“It is a very flimsy excuse to wait for, and then attempt to undermine European legislation in place of actually bolstering the safeguards necessary against arbitrary government. Time and time again, the Labour Government shows how committed it is to clinging onto power irrespective of how draconian the means.”