Delays in the processes by which justice gets delivered persist and continue to undermine people’s confidence in the courts of law. The idea that in order to get your grievance settled in a fair way, you have to undergo a long painful marathon at the end of which you only remain with the taste of ashes is a reality for many.
They (quite rightly) do not care about the reasons – true or false – which explain why this happens. What they require is that the courts provide an appropriate manner by which to resolve the problems that burden their lives.
They are arriving at the conclusion – which they explain individually in their own particular ways – that apart from the administrative difficulties which exist in the management of the courts and that one is always being told about, a major problem could be this:
Vested interests attached to this sector have no interest in changing their behaviour or the systems by which things get done. That would require on their part more effort and more diligence and so they prefer to keep everything in place, like they found it and as their predecessors left it.
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EXILED
All countries have their exiles. If history has allowed them to fall into neglect, they are considered traitors for whom banishment was an appropriate sanction. If not, they are seen as heroes, or at the least, as martyrs.
In this country, the exiles which are still held in honour include Manwel Dimech who died in a foreign country, and among those who spent part of their life in exile, Mikiel Anton Vassalli and the Maltese citizens who were sent to East Africa during the Second World War.
In addition to exiles who were banished, there are those who were obliged to leave, for if they stayed, they would get killed. World-wide, it seems as if the number of such exiles is increasing. Yet the people being referenced here have become exiles for “political” reasons. The number of people who exile themselves for economic reasons is much vaster.
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THE FINAL RUN
Before entering the weeks of the summer holiday season, the European institutions (Commission, Council, as well as the Parliament) did their best to conclude as much as possible of the agenda facing them. During the first half of next year, the pace of European governance will decline almost completely till elections to the European Parliament are over and a new Commission has been appointed.
Nobody wants to arrive at that stage of closure and pause till the statuory changes have been cleared with too many issues still left pending. Naturally what is to be considered as “too many” is a subjective business. However it is inevitable that by the end of the legislature, a number of issues will remain unresolved. Indeed, till the political, legislative and executive work resumes, enough time will have passed to render certain pending decisions outdated.
During the current legislature, too many unexpected developments occurred. They disrupted workflows. Brexit took longer than expected to finalise. The Covid pandemic created unprecedented emergencies and altered priorities. So did the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. Meawhile, inflation which had been dead in the water became a huge wave and overturned the calculations on which decisions were being taken.