Busuttil: all significant state appointments to be made by parliament, not the Prime Minister

Simon Busuttil has just announced at a press conference, which is still ongoing, that if he is elected to government, one of the first and permanent changes he will make – to safeguard Malta’s democracy, strengthen its institutions and avoid the horrendous abuse we are seeing now – is to remove the power of the Prime Minister to appoint people to and remove them from key state posts.

This power will be given to parliament instead, with a two-thirds vote in the House required for the appointment, which means that the government vote alone will not be enough. The two-thirds majority is the same as that required for amendments to the Maltese Constitution.

This is the move we have been waiting for. The power vested in the Prime Minister to appoint and remove people from key state positions, like the Police Commissioner, is the main reason for all this abuse we have seen.