During a European Parliament plenary session, several Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) stated that Malta can and should be doing more to protect journalists across its islands.

Several MEPs spoke during the debate dedicated to the rule of law and the recent 7th anniversary of the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. All Maltese MEPs participated in this discussion, with the natural exception of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

David Casa said that her assassination was the result of an existing culture of impunity in the Maltese islands - a culture that still exists, according to the Nationalist Party MEP. As examples of this, he stated that the present government has been responsible for allowing funds to be stolen away from cancer patients, has acted fraudulently with disability payouts, and has sold Maltese and EU identity cards to third-country nationals.

"When justice is set in motion, it is thanks to the work of private individuals, journalists, and the judiciary," Casa said.

He added that the present situation of justice in Malta has led to the current administration leading "heinous attacks" against the judiciary, journalists, and civil society. Casa also remarked that "the Maltese government is failing grossly both in the implementation of the outcomes of the public inquiry (into the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia) and in obtaining justice in light of the corruption unveiled by Daphne," and called for the European Commission to take action past being vocal through reports.

Following Casa, Agius Saliba honoured the memory of Caruana Galizia before then condemning the European Parliament for its "hypocrisy and double standards."

"This is the fifteenth such debate on her murder, because for the EPP, by doing so, it will be able to attack the socialist Maltese government," he said.

The S&D Vice President said that "the European Parliament has been deaf and mute" to the 140 deaths of journalists in Gaza and Lebanon over the past year. He added that the chamber held no debates for them, thus giving the impression that there are first-class and second-class journalists. His colleague, PL MEP Daniel Attard, supported this criticism over the European Parliament.

"This debate has turned into a political exercise to shame Malta," Attard said, "While the European Parliament is obsessively scrutinizing Malta, it is silent on Gaza where over 130 journalists have been killed."

During his intervention, the young MEP noted how Malta has since overhauled its judicial systems and brought reforms that other European Union Member States could learn from. Attard also implied that maybe the European institution was speaking negatively about Malta during this debate "because we are small."

Peter Agius told present officials in Strasbourg that they should not applaud the Maltese government for its judicial reforms, as Agius Saliba had stated just before him, because of certain negative actions it has taken in recent years that go against its commitments to protecting journalists and freedom of press.

Agius condemned how the present government had cleared the candles off Daphne Caruana Galizia's memorial monument opposite the Valletta Law Courts. He also criticised the government's proposal to introduce a new form of criminal libel, saying this goes against the need to protect journalists from a toxic environment.

Labour Party MEP Thomas Bajada stated that Malta is the first EU country to adopt the Union's anti-SLAPP rules and that it has taken positive steps to protect journalists, but that for this field, they can never say that enough has been done.

He called for Malta to continue to strengthen this commitment "for as long as needed."

Bajada also suggested that the EU help this mission by promoting factual and dignified journalism, which he said, "is under threat in the global context."

Other foreign MEPs, such as Fabrice Leggeri from the Patriots for Europe group, said it is a shameful "democratic nightmare that the EU allows journalists to be murdered in their home countries."

Leggeri questioned "the investigation that has led to nowhere" and asked if the lack of progress in these proceedings have been experienced because the Maltese leaders involved want to turn a blind eye.

Another MEP, Isabel Wiseler-Lima from Luxembourg, stated that Malta is still living in its culture of impunity, and said that there are those involved in the journalist's killing who are still at large.

Following this, Agius Saliba interrupted the session and requested that the word "impunity" is not used by the Luxembourgish member of the EPP party, disagreeing with her remarks because of the judicial progress observed in Malta.