On Thursday we published a bill which sees to the separation of the Attorney General’s present dual functions.

This confirms yet again our commitment to further reform in this sector. From the outset, since the election of the present Government in 2013, this Government implemented a series of robust reforms. 

We are a Reformist Government and that in the past six years, numerous positive legal reforms have been brought into force with the sole aim of aligning the Maltese legal system with contemporary legal standards in a manner which respects and adheres to the notion of the rule of law and separation of powers.

At the beginning of last March we announced that the Government will be legislating for a separation of the Attorney General's prosecutorial and advisory roles by the Summer Parliamentary recess. This promise was also delivered.

This act will continue implementing reform in the Justice Sector, by providing numerous measures so that the Attorney General’s present functions as the primary public prosecutor and as the primary Government consultant in legal matters are separated and carried out by different officials and institutions which are independent from one another.

This situation has been present in Maltese legislature as from 1936, from the promulgation of the Direction Order concerning the Attorney General which consolidated the post of the Public Prosecutor and Treasury Lawyer in the role of the Attorney General. This consolidation was kept in the Maltese constitution, even after our country’s independence, until today.

To separate the mentioned functions, a new office of State Advocate will be created, which will also be recognised by the Constitution and its holder will enjoy the same protection as enjoyed by the Attorney General and the Members of the Judiciary. The State Attorney will be the primary consultant of the Government in relation to law and legal opinions and will be explicitly obliged to act in the public interest and safeguard the legality of the State actions.

The State Attorney will carry out his or her functions through an independent Agency established by law.

The appointment method for both the Attorney General (once it becomes vacant again in the future) and the State Advocate will be changed as well in order to become more transparent. The bill proposes that prior to the appointment the Prime Minister is obliged to give appropriate consideration to the recommendations by an Experts Committee which will give advice after a public call for applications. 

The Attorney General’s duties in relation to the prosecution sector will be increased. The position will be given new powers to demand the Police to investigate certain cases, to ask information from the Police in relation to the state of investigations and to demand the Police to issue any charge for any crime. The Attorney General will also have the power to be a prosecutor within the courts, in relation to any crime.

Apart from the separation of the Attorney General’s functions, this Act sees to the separation of the investigative functions which are generally carried out by the Police (in certain cases are carried out by other public specialised agencies) from the prosecutorial functions. This is being done to ensure more independence of the prosecution. The aim is that eventually prosecutions in Court are carried out by the Attorney General’s office - however it is being envisaged that there is the need of appropriate transitional measures and full collaboration with the Police’s unit of prosecution which is being formed and which also carries an important role in the strengthening of the prosecution.

This Act is also proposing the consequential change of other laws, including the Constitution in order to provide an appropriate legal basis, and to facilitate the transition to these functions from the Attorney General to the State Attorney.

The Act also sees to the possibility of transitional measures with the aim that changes are made in an orderly fashion and in a manner to avoid disputes in the prosecution and Government legal services sectors, which are essential for governance and general public order.

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The report issued a few days back by the European Commission on the efficiency of the justice sector in all the countries of the European Union (the Justice Scoreboard), shows that implementing changes and measures in this sector is giving results.

Comparing the last report published to previous years, we find that more people believe that the Judiciary in Malta is independent: an absolute majority of 56% of the population believe that the Judiciary is independent, up from 45% last year. This positive trend also applies to companies in Malta as the report says that more companies believe that the Judiciary in Malta is independent compared to last year.

From the report, one can see that almost three fifths of the European Member States have experienced a downward trend in terms of the perception of independence of the Judiciary.  This means that Malta is one of the few member states experiencing a strengthening in the perception of independence of the Judiciary.

This year's Justice Scoreboard also studies the efficiency parameters of the justice sector during the year 2017, and we have also fared well in this sector: our Courts have kept decreasing the length of time they take to decide civil, commercial and other cases and a marked improvement has been achieved between 2010 and 2017.

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Challenges still lie ahead in the Justice sector, but we are determined to continue to do our utmost, as this government is committed to keep improving the justice sector, which is a strong pillar of our democracy.