Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1231020
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 APRIL 2020 OPINION THE news that the Government and the Opposition have come to an agreement on the appoint- ment of Mr Justice Mark Chet- cuti as Chief Justice and also on the method of appointments for members of the judiciary, is a sil- ver lining around the cloud that currently darkens our island. Although the Prime Minister said in Parliament that judicial appointments were once a sub- ject which led to political divi- sion but now will lead to national unity, no details on the agreed upon method for future judicial appointments were published. Some might think this as very strange. On the other hand, I see the possibility of an agreement on principle that has still to be fleshed out in terms of a written law or procedure. However, this next step should not be left un- done for too much time, as oth- erwise the popular satisfaction that the news brought about will dissipate into nothing. As things stand, the Prime Min- ister could use the powers vested to him and just choose the Chief Justice – as has been done since and whenever Malta had a Prime Minister. Instead he opted to go to seek parliamentary approval for the nomination, with the Op- position expressing itself in fa- vour of the appointment of Judge Chetcuti. One hopes that the Leader of the Opposition was correct when he said that this was not a change in form but a change in sub- stance. As he put it, the change is not about the candidate in question but in the fact that the decision was taken between the government and the opposition. Finally our politicians rose to the occasion and behaved in a very mature and responsible way. If this is the effect of the COV- ID-19 pandemic pushing us to realise the fragility of humanity, then so be it. I would have pre- ferred, however, if our politicians realise this fragility without the need of a pandemic! This also goes to show that ap- pointing persons in certain posts with two-thirds majority in Par- liament is achievable and not im- possible – as some claim. The appointment of the post of Chief Justice and of the judi- ciary has long been a controver- sial point. Although in December 2018, the Venice Commission had criticised the Prime Minis- ter's absolute power to choose judges and magistrates, this state of affairs had been criti- cised also by a number of local opinion-makers. Unfortunately, many still think that what is said by foreign bodies should be given more weight than what is said by local observers. Repubblika, the NGO that had been pressing for changes to be made to the Constitution to ensure a judiciary independent from the government, praised the agreement between the two sides of Parliament – yet another sign of much needed maturity. Rewriting history Unfortunately lack of maturity was very evident in last Sunday's editorial of the Labour Party weekly, Kullħadd. The writer explained that the COVID-19 pandemic found Malta to be well prepared and then proceeded to rewrite his- tory by attributing all that Malta has achieved over the years to the different Labour governments that had been in power. Reading the editorial one gets the impression that Labour gov- ernments were perfect and never made mistakes while other gov- ernments never did anything at all – whether right or wrong. The truth is very different, of course. When in power Labour made huge mistakes: the 're- form' in tertiary education was, perhaps, the biggest of them all. I could go on and on but that is not the point. Acknowledging your side's mis- takes and the achievements of your political rivals is a sign of maturity, not weakness. I there- fore attribute last Sunday's ridic- ulous editorial in Kullħadd to the writer's immaturity. But this sort of thing must be checked by people who matter in the Labour Party. To be respect- ed, it cannot keep on repeating the old mantra that Malta's suc- cess as an independent nation – improbable as many thought it would be – can be attributed solely to one political party. The same goes for the PN prop- aganda machine. Although it does not go to the ridiculous ex- treme of last Sunday's Kullħadd editorial, it also makes immature considerations, extolling whatev- er the PN governments did and depicting Labour governments of just having been responsible for a series of messes. Orbán's power grab Passing measures ostensibly to tackle coronavirus, the Hungari- an parliament on Monday voted to give Prime Minister Victor Orbán the unlimited power to rule by decree without any time frame. This legislation marginalises the Hungarian parliament and al- lows Orbán to rule by decree, like a dictator. The law also introduc- es jail terms for spreading disin- formation about the virus, raising fears it could be used to shut up critics of the government's ap- proach to the pandemic. Many observers rightly feel that this emergency law is incompati- ble with Hungary's EU member- ship. As, Sophie in't Veld, the Dutch liberal MEP who chairs the Eu- ropean Parliament's rule of law group, put it: 'Viktor Orbán has completed his project of killing democracy and the rule of law in Hungary. Clearly, the actions of the Hungarian government are incompatible with EU member- ship.' The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, issued a statement on Tuesday calling for all emergency meas- ures to be "limited to what is nec- essary and strictly proportion- ate," and not lasting indefinitely. "It is of utmost importance that emergency measures are not at the expense of our fundamental principles and values as set out in the treaties," Von der Leyen said in the statement that did not mention Hungary. Meanwhile, Eliot L. Engel, the chairman of the US House of Representatives' foreign affairs committee, said Orbán was mak- ing "a blatant power grab in the face of the worst global health crisis in recent history". In a thinly-veiled attack against Orbán, EPP leader, Donald Tusk, said that governments using the coronavirus crisis to stage an executive power grab would be "politically dangerous, and mor- ally unacceptable." In a letter to European People's Party staff, Tusk insisted that the coronavirus crisis should not be used as an excuse for state over- reach. "The state of emergency, or the state of danger, must serve the governments in their fight against the virus, and not strengthen their power over the citizens," Tusk wrote in the let- ter, adding that "making use of the pandemic to build a perma- nent state of emergency is po- litically dangerous, and morally unacceptable." Appointing persons in certain posts with two-thirds majority in Parliament is achievable and not impossible – as some claim Michael Falzon Judging the judges micfal45@gmail.com Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti will be Chief Justice