Op-ed: Bill presented by Malta's government undermines the constitution and rule of law

The Constitutional Court of Malta, in line with the consistent and well-established case law of the European Court of Human Rights, has ruled on several occasions that stiff administrative penalties constitute a criminal sanction. According to the Maltese constitution, these can only be applied by a court of law, composed of judges or magistrates. The government is now trying to stultify these judgments and trip the Constitutional Court by amending the constitution through a simple ordinary majority in parliament, rather than by the two-thirds majority imposed by the constitution. [ . . . ] This perseverance in reducing, rather than enhancing, the fundamental rights set forth in our constitution is, by itself, already serious. What is even more lethal is the use of the means chosen to reach this end, namely the use of an ordinary law to change the meaning of the constitution.
Read the full article here: Times of Malta