I was moved by Daphne Caruana Galizia’s ballad to fairness (The Malta Independent, 24 September. Many of us in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe share her views and did our best to prevent the decision that so greatly offended Mrs Galizia’s sense of justice and fairness. The vast majority of the members of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee voted in favour of accepting Malta’s list of three male candidates. But we needed a 4/5 majority and a very small minority managed to impose their will on the majority.

I agree fully with Mrs Galizia’s arguments except with her assertion that “if there is woman on Malta’s list, the strong likelihood is that the woman will get the job, even if the men are more qualified”. I have been for many years a member of the Sub-Committee on the Selection of Judges and we always selected the best candidate irrespective of gender. No doubt we shall do the same with the new list from Malta. Women are no longer under represented to the Court and therefore even between equals we are not obliged to select the woman.

Christos Pourgourides

Cyprus, EPP

First Vice President of

The Legal Affairs and

Human Rights Committee