Bipartisan agreement for Mark Chetcuti to be next Chief Justice, minister confirms

Malta’s government and the Opposition Nationalist Party have reached an agreement to back Judge Mark Chetcuti for Chief Justice.

The outgoing chief justice, Judge Joseph Azzopardi, retires at 65 in May. He was appointed in 2018 shortly after a reform in judicial selection procedures to have prospective magistrates vetted by a committee, before being recommended to the government.

While justice minister Edward Zammit Lewis has confirmed the decision on Twitter, marking one of the first times in Maltese history where the government and the Opposition agree to such an appointment, it appears there is some unease in the Labour backbench over the appointment.

Judge Mark Chetcuti was born on 4 February 1958, and is 62 years old. He graduated as a lawyer from the University of Malta in January 1982. He spent 28 years practicing family law and civil law. He was formerly a member of the Refugees Appeals Board and a chairman of the Controlled Companies Appeals Board.

He was appointed judge in July 2010, then without having been first made magistrate, directly by the prime minister.

Since 2016, Malta’s judicial appointments follow written advice from the Judiciary Appointment Committee which is made up of the Chief Justice, the Auditor General, the Ombudsman and the President of the Chamber of Advocates.

The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission wants further safeguards on the appointment of judges.

The most problematic aspect are the unchecked powers of the prime minister. Although the legal experts praised recent judicial reforms as a “step in the right direction”, they said this still proved “insufficient” because too many power imbalances risked the proper rule of law on the island. According to the commission, former justice minister Owen Bonnici highlighted an “ambitious” legal reform programme over the past six years aimed at strengthening good governance and the rule of law.

The government accepted the necessity of reform but it still forged ahead with six judicial appointments, prompting a constitutional lawsuit from civil society organisation Repubblika to nullify the appointments until the system was changed. Judge Mark Chetcuti presided the case.