The Mediterranean island nation of Malta needs better checks and balances to address the way the prime minister's powers currently eclipse other institutions, experts from Europe's top human rights body said on Friday. A health minister in Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's Labour government lost his post in 2016 due to revelations that he opened a company in Panama, but there has been no police investigation despite public pressure and he retained the title of minister. Calls for the police commissioner's resignation following the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017 have also gone unanswered. The Venice Commission said that the power of the prime minister "widely overshadows other government bodies, including the president, parliament, cabinet of ministers, judiciary and ombudsman." The experts, who visited Malta last month, said that the prime minister wields considerable influence over judicial appointments, and that the imbalance "is accentuated by the weakness of civil society and independent media."

Source: ABC News December 14, 2018 13:11 UTC