The Venice Commission has welcomed the efforts of the Maltese authorities to implement some of its recommendations on Constitutional arrangements and separation of powers, on the independence of the judiciary and law enforcement. The Council of Europe body has also called for an "adequate" system of checks and balances.

In a 2018 opinion, the commission had concluded that in the present Maltese Constitution, the Prime Minister is clearly the centre of political power. Other actors such as the President, Parliament, the Cabinet of Ministers, the judiciary or the Ombudsman, have too weak an institutional position to provide enough checks and balances.

It said the proposals put forward by the government will decrease the powers of the Prime Minister, but more power should be shifted to the President and Parliament, which need to be strengthened.

"The current Proposals are only part of a wider reform envisaged that will also be driven by the Constitutional Convention. With a guided and structured dialogue opened between all stakeholders, the Convention should look into the overall constitutional design of the country."

In its revised Opinion, the Venice Commission welcomed several proposals, including that the President of Malta will be elected and dismissed with a qualified majority, and that the President will be able to freely choose among three candidates proposed for judicial appointment.

Other proposals that were welcomed were; the introduction of a public call for judicial vacancies, the removal of the Attorney General from the Judicial Appointments Commission; the strengthening the Ombudsman at the constitutional level; and the shifting some powers of appointment from the Prime Minister to the Cabinet;

The Venice Commission made the following recommendations for an improvement of checks and balances; the introduction of an election of the Chief Justice by the judges of the Supreme Court if there is no agreement of two-thirds of the MPs for his or her election; obliging Parliament to act on the basis of decisions of the Constitutional Court finding a legal provision unconstitutional.

In addition, a number of recommendations from various reports deserve support. This concerns notably the reports of the Ombudsman and of the Commissioner for Public Standards on the domestic level, and the GRECO recommendations on the international level, it said.

In a separate statement, CoE rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt welcomed the Venice Commission's opinion but expressed his concern at recent revelations about the Maltese police and criminal justice system.

"This new opinion is a welcome sign that the Maltese government recognises the need for fundamental reform and is willing to engage with the international community", said Omtzigt.

"On other crucial issues, there is still a lot to do", he continued. "The prime minister's powers of appointment may still be too extensive. There is a lack of clarity on ‘persons of trust' and ‘positions of trust', which have been abused to reward party members and buy the compliance of MPs. Nothing is being done to turn parliament into an effective scrutineer. The Attorney General has still not taken responsibility for prosecutions from the police - even though the law allowing this was passed almost a year ago. Magistrates' inquiry powers will not be transferred to the Attorney General - even though magisterial inquiries are demonstrably failing in high-profile cases."

"The Venice Commission opinion, with its focus on checks and balances and the criminal justice system, comes as Malta's reputation is further besmirched by yet more revelations of corruption and impunity. Former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar is under investigation for tipping off a suspect in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Former deputy commissioner Silvio Valletta is under investigation for his dealings with the suspected mastermind, after he fell under suspicion. Testimony from officers in the economic crimes unit has revealed confusion, procrastination and apathy - to put it charitably - in the unit's work on ‘political' cases."

"As my report made clear, it is all connected - the weaknesses in the rule of law, the impunity for corruption and the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. There is also an international dimension, with related investigations in Italy, France and Latvia - maybe more. Malta's criminal justice system is still not fit for purpose, and the promised reforms will not bear fruit for months, at least. The world has already waited long enough. The authorities should now establish Joint Investigation Teams with foreign police forces that are tackling related issues, so that there can at last be an end to impunity in Malta, and justice for Daphne."