A Standards Commissioner for the judiciary can be introduced through a simple majority in Parliament, Prime Minister Robert Abela said.

Speaking to the press, he referred to a constitutional reform bill that was recently tabled in Parliament. Constitutional reforms require a 2/3rds majority in Parliament to pass. Opposition Leader Bernard Grech told Parliament that the Nationalist Party intends to vote against the constitutional amendments relating to the judiciary brought forward by the government, meaning that this constitutional reform is set to be stopped in its tracks once the Third Reading is concluded. The PN had voted against it at second reading stage. The PN is calling for a "comprehensive constitutional reform, not one that is fragmented." The Nationalist Party wants the President of Malta, Myriam Spiteri Debono, to lead a constitutional discussion.

But Abela, speaking to journalists on Friday, said that when it comes to the Commissioner for Standards, it can be introduced through with a simple majority in Parliament.

"It was not an amendment the government wanted, but an amendment the judiciary wanted," Abela said, adding that if the judiciary said they want to increase transparency and scrutiny on them, he wasn't going to tell them no.

He said that the Chief Justice said this two years ago at the opening of the forensic year. "Am I going to tell the Chief Justice no? The Opposition Leader told him no though and voted against. When it comes to the Commissioner for Standards, that amendment can pass through with a simple majority. But the judiciary came to us with other reforms. They told us, in the context that in the coming months five judges are going to retire from the superior courts, and in the context that they still have a lot to contribute, have the knowledge and skill, why not extend, voluntarily, the retirement age to 70?" He said that the Opposition is saying it doesn't want to agree. He said that the excuses given by the Opposition were "puerile."

He said the Opposition stomped its feet on a reform "that the judiciary wanted, and is saying no to amendments that would mean more efficiency in the courts."

In the Constitutional reforms bill the government introduced, the Commissioner for Standards of the Judiciary would be tasked with investigating complaints of ethical misconduct and breach of professional standards of members of the judiciary. A report would then be passed on to the Chief Justice and the Justice Minister, and the Committee for Judges and Magistrates will decide the best course of action against the breach of ethics by a member of the judiciary. The Chief Justice and the Minister responsible for Justice may at their discretion choose not to follow the report of the Commissioner for Standards of the Judiciary, it had been said.