Prime Minister Robert Abela has made yet another improper statement related to the judiciary. Unsurprisingly, we add, given his track record.

After keeping members of the media waiting for almost three hours under the scorching July sun while he was given a tour of a cruise-liner, last Wednesday he said that his first choice as Malta’s representative on the European Commission remains Chris Fearne.

Fearne had already been named as the person earmarked for the post in January, when the Prime Minister relieved him of the health portfolio and gave him a less demanding ministry as he started preparing for his new role in Brussels. But Fearne had withdrawn his name – apart from resigning from the Cabinet and his position as deputy prime minister – when he was charged with criminal offences following the conclusion of the magisterial inquiry into the now-rescinded hospitals deal.

Now, as a decision on whether enough evidence has been presented in court for Fearne to be indicted or acquitted gets closer, the Prime Minister chose to put pressure on the magistrate who is set to give his ruling in the next few days. Or, worse, Abela was trying to influence the magistrate’s verdict.

By saying that Fearne is “one of the most probable possibilities”, Abela was effectively putting the onus on the magistrate for political decisions he (Abela) will have to take.

Members of the judiciary are expected to formulate their rulings based on the evidence brought before them, free of any outside interference and external pressure.

What Abela did was blatant meddling.

He could have easily deflected the question he was asked by giving a bland answer, as he does often. As it happened, he took the opportunity to send a message to the magistrate hearing the Fearne case. A Prime Minister, especially one with a legal background, should know better.

It is the umpteenth time that Abela has chosen to intrude into the workings of the judiciary.

There was the time when he questioned sentencing policies, saying that court judgments were demoralising the police force. He later also brazenly admitted to have had a conversation with a magistrate on how the courts are run, a statement that had drawn criticism from most quarters.

Last year he had written to the Chief Justice saying it was “totally unacceptable” that a magisterial inquiry looking into the death of Jean Paul Sofia on a construction site in Kordin was taking too long to be concluded. It was another occasion for which Abela was reproached.

He has used his speeches in Parliament and in public places to indicate that the workings of the judiciary were being closely watched.

His more famous attack was on the magistrate who worked on the inquiry related to the hospitals deal. In more than one instance he found fault with what he described as the timing of the conclusion of the inquiry which, in the PM’s mind, was intended to inflict as much damage as possible to the Labour Party on the eve of the European Parliament and local council elections last June. He went as far as to say that he did not exclude that his predecessor Joseph Muscat had been looked at with “the presumption of guilt” by the magistrate conducting the inquiry. They were all dangerous statements, coming from the head of government.

His latest attempt directed at the judiciary – the comment related on Fearne’s chances to be renamed as Malta’s European Commissioner – only serves to confirm how Abela seeks to use all the power that his role gives him to steer decisions which are out of his control the way he wants them to be taken.

There are other considerations to make as to why Abela is desperately seeking to nominate Fearne for the Brussels job. On the surface, Abela speaks kindly about Fearne and defends him, but Abela also knows that Fearne remains a fierce internal rival. We all remember what happened in early 2020 when Joseph Muscat had exited the political scene and Abela came out of nowhere to challenge, and eventually beat, Fearne to the Labour Party leadership.

Following the latest electoral results, Abela’s position is not as strong as it used to be. With Fearne safely out of the way in Brussels, Abela would have gotten rid of an adversary, one who may no longer vie for the leadership, but who could throw his weight behind a candidate who sets their eyes on the prize.

Having said this, it’s not a given that Fearne will accept an eventual second nomination. He has already resisted the Prime Minister who had asked him to reconsider his resignation from the Cabinet and his withdrawal of the European Commission candidature last May.

Fearne knows – or should know – that the standards of the European Union are much higher than Labour’s low bars.