Repubblika says CHANCE directives should be transposed into Maltese law
The CHANCE network, of which Repubblika forms part, and which is dedicated to combating the Europe-wide problem of organized crime, has made two important directives which must be effectively transposed into Maltese law, Repubblika said in a press co
The CHANCE network, of which Repubblika forms part, and which is dedicated to combating the Europe-wide problem of organized crime, has made two important directives which must be effectively transposed into Maltese law, Repubblika said in a press conference on Monday.
President of Repubblika, Vicky Ann Cremona, said that Repubblika is part of the CHANCE (Civil Hub Against orgaNized Crime in Europe) network that is coordinated by Libera Contro le Mafie, an Italian NGO.
The new directives are a European standard for the social use of capital confiscated from organized crime and criminalization of action of organized crime against the environment, Cremona said. She added that these two directives together along with the new directive against SLAPPs are important developments.
Cremona said that these directives must be transposed into a national law through the Maltese parliament, must be made use of by the Maltese government and enforced by the Maltese courts. “As Repubblika, we were one of the coordinators of the CHANCE effort for it to prepare its positions for the European parliament and the new European commission,” she said.
The CHANCE programme is funded by the EU Commission and unites organizations from all over Europe whose mission is to offer civic resistance against organized crime and corruption, activist Manuel Delia said. In preparation for the new European parliament, CHANCE prepared a manifesto with its agenda for a Europe free of corruption and organized crime, he said.
Delia said that the manifesto deals with 5 themes; firstly, the fact that organized crime is a romanticised and specifically Sicilian problem, as opposed to a European problem that as a whole that infiltrates much wider than Sicily. He said that another theme of the agenda, to give justice to society, is to take stolen capital back from organized crime and give the confiscated assets back to society.
Delia went on to say that Maltese priority should be given to corruption and protection of victims, including those of corruption that oftentimes remain unidentified, and finally of the protection of the environment which we argued should be recognized as a victim of organized crime.
Delia said that in the last few days the EU adopted a new directive on the use of confiscated assets from organized crime that will be made a law in the coming days and so all the countries, Malta included, will have 2 years to implement it. He elaborated that through this directive, confiscated assets will not be auctioned off or sold, possibly back to the original owner using the guise of another company, but given back to the social enterprises of that community.
Delia said that Malta currently does not have a law that defines ‘mafia’ and they had been campaigning for years for a law that isn’t exclusive to Italy but is being adopted all over Europe. He added that this is necessary to identify the social danger of these criminals.
However, Delia said that they will be working on many new initiatives regarding corruption in the EU parliament; with a new code of ethics for MEPs, a ‘lobby registry’ to monitor party policy negotiations with private interests, a directive for an ‘executive footprint’ that will record who politicians met and at what time to document the influence of private interests on policy, a directive for freedom of information which doesn’t work well and doesn’t exist for European institutions, a directive for transparency of party funding and a better definition of NGOs role’ when they monitor the adoption of directives.
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