Bonnici, Azzopardi on Reporter to discuss judicial appointments

Justice minister Owen Bonnici and shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi will join Saviour Balzan on Reporter to discuss judicial appointments and the government’s recent controversial magisterial nominations of Ingrid Zammit Young and Caroline Farrugia Frendo.

Bonnici has pledged to reform the appointment system before the next election, but Azzopardi on Wednesday presented a private members’ bill on judicial reform and urged government to freeze all new nominations until the reform passes. Some of the proposals are based on the Bonello Commission, tasked by the government to draft a holistic reform of the justice system.

The Opposition MP has accused Bonnici of delaying the reforms to give himself time to fill up every nook and cranny of the judiciary with controversial appointments.

However, Bonnici said that he is taking the PN’s proposals with a pinch of salt as the party had failed to implement judicial reforms in 25 years of government and had not included such a reform in their 2013 manifesto.

Reporter will be broadcast on Monday at 10:05pm on TVM, with a repetition on Tuesday at 1:30pm on TVM2.