The Maltese government has been hit out at for choosing to hire foreign lawyers instead of Maltese ones as legal representatives before the European Courts of Justice.
The Court of Justice heard arguments from NGO Repubblika in its case arguing that appointments to the judiciary in April 2019 did not meet the requirements of judicial independence.
Repubblika was represented by lawyer Jason Azzopardi who made his arguments in the Maltese language. The European Court even read out the case in Maltese. However, the case for Malta’s government was argued in English by Spanish Lawyers. 🤔
Indeed, the uncomfortable court sitting culminated in a bizarre situation where questions directed at the Maltese government about Malta’s constitution were unable to be answered by the Spanish legal team. 🇪🇸
Several commentators and politicians accused the government of rejecting Malta’s mother tongue with nationalist MP David Agius even going on record to say “It’s a kick in the teeth to Maltese language – the use of Maltese will not prosper unless we are proud of it” 🇲🇹
Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat once famously refused to give a speech to a European Court, arguing angrily that the Maltese language was not being given due representation at EU level 🇪🇺
What do you make of the criticism ? Do you think the Labour Party has betrayed it’s core values ? 🤔
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