EU and Council of Europe
European measures after the assassination
European institutions responded to the assassination and to Malta's public inquiry with resolutions, monitoring reports, opinions and, later, binding legislation. Whether any one European law was caused by the Malta case is a matter of interpretation, and the legal texts themselves generally do not say so. This page therefore records what each institution adopted, on what date, and what the institution itself says about the connection to Malta. Every entry links to the official text.
- MonitoringEuropean Commission
Annual Rule of Law Report: Malta country chapters
Since 2020 the Commission has published an annual rule of law report with a chapter on each member state. The Malta chapters track judicial independence, the anti-corruption framework, media pluralism and the implementation of the public inquiry's recommendations.
Link to the Malta caseEach Malta chapter refers to the aftermath of the assassination and to the public inquiry's recommendations.
European Commission (EUR-Lex), 2021 Rule of Law Report: country chapter on the rule of law situation in MaltaEuropean Commission, 2022 Rule of Law Report: country chapter on MaltaEuropean Commission, 2023 Rule of Law Report: country chapter on MaltaEuropean Commission (EUR-Lex), 2024 Rule of Law Report: country chapter on MaltaEuropean Commission, 2025 Rule of Law Report: country chapter on Malta - LegislationGovernment of Malta
Malta's transposition of the anti-SLAPP directive and its media reform bills
Maltese state broadcasting reported that Malta was the first member state to transpose the anti-SLAPP directive. Media organisations and civil society said the accompanying media reform package fell short of the public inquiry's recommendations.
Link to the Malta casePresented by the government as implementation of the inquiry's media recommendations; contested by press freedom organisations.
- LegislationEuropean Parliament and Council of the EU
European Media Freedom Act: Regulation (EU) 2024/1083
A regulation establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market, including provisions on the protection of journalistic sources, safeguards against the use of spyware on journalists, editorial independence of public service media, and transparency of media ownership and state advertising.
Link to the Malta caseThe regulation is EU-wide and does not name Malta. Media freedom organisations and the European Parliament had pressed for such an instrument in the years after the assassination; readers should treat the connection as context, not as a stated cause.
- LegislationEuropean Parliament and Council of the EU
Anti-SLAPP Directive: Directive (EU) 2024/1069
A directive on protecting people who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings in cross-border cases, providing for early dismissal, cost awards and penalties. Member states must transpose it by 7 May 2026.
Link to the Malta caseThe Commission's own 2022 recommendation on the same subject cited the situation of journalists facing abusive litigation; Caruana Galizia faced dozens of libel actions that continued against her estate after her death, a fact recorded in the Malta public inquiry report.
EUR-Lex: Official Journal of the European Union, Directive (EU) 2024/1069 on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedingsEuropean Commission, New EU rules to protect against strategic lawsuits against public participation enter into forceSee timeline entrySee timeline entry - ResolutionEuropean Parliament
Resolution: Rule of law in Malta six years after the assassination, and the need to protect journalists
The Parliament reviewed progress on the recommendations of the Malta public inquiry, the state of media reform in Malta and the protection of journalists, and set out further demands to the Maltese authorities.
Link to the Malta caseDirectly and explicitly about Malta and the Caruana Galizia case.
- RecommendationEuropean Commission
Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/758 on protecting journalists from abusive proceedings
A non-binding recommendation asking member states to provide training, legal support and data collection on strategic lawsuits against public participation, and to align domestic rules with the standards later reflected in the 2024 directive.
Link to the Malta caseAddressed to all member states. It preceded and shaped the binding directive adopted two years later.
- ResolutionEuropean Parliament (LIBE/JURI)
Report on strengthening democracy, media freedom and pluralism: the undue use of civil and criminal actions to silence journalists (A9-0292/2021)
A parliamentary own-initiative report calling for EU-level anti-SLAPP legislation. It is one of the documents that preceded the 2022 recommendation and the 2024 directive.
Link to the Malta caseThe report is EU-wide; Maltese libel actions against Caruana Galizia are among the cases repeatedly cited in the wider SLAPP debate.
- ResolutionEuropean Parliament
Resolution on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the rule of law in Malta
Adopted while the public inquiry was still sitting, the resolution addressed the criminal investigation, the independence of Maltese institutions and the protection of journalists.
Link to the Malta caseDirectly and explicitly about Malta and the Caruana Galizia case.
- ResolutionEuropean Parliament
Resolution on the rule of law in Malta after the recent revelations around the murder
Adopted weeks after the arrest of Yorgen Fenech and the resignations at the Office of the Prime Minister, the resolution addressed the conduct of the investigation and the independence of Maltese institutions.
Link to the Malta caseDirectly and explicitly about Malta and the Caruana Galizia case.
- Council of EuropeParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Omtzigt rapporteur report on the assassination and the rule of law in Malta
The rapporteur to the Assembly's legal affairs committee examined the investigation and Maltese institutions and called for an independent public inquiry into whether the state could have prevented the killing.
Link to the Malta caseThe Maltese government announced a public inquiry later in 2019; the Assembly's demand is part of the documented sequence.
Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination and the rule of law in Malta and beyond: ensuring that the whole truth emerges, rapporteur report (Pieter Omtzigt)Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination and the rule of law, in Malta and beyond, information note AS/Jur/Inf(2019)13 RevSee timeline entry - ResolutionEuropean Parliament
Resolution on the rule of law and the fight against corruption in the EU, specifically in Malta and Slovakia
The Parliament considered the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ján Kuciak together and called for an independent public inquiry in Malta and for reform of anti-money-laundering supervision.
Link to the Malta caseNames Malta and the case expressly.
- Council of EuropeVenice Commission
Opinion CDL-AD(2018)028 on Malta's constitutional arrangements
The Venice Commission examined the separation of powers in Malta and the independence of the judiciary, police and prosecution, and recommended structural reforms including to the appointment of judges and the Attorney General.
Link to the Malta caseRequested in the period after the assassination; several of its recommendations were later echoed by the public inquiry.
- ResolutionEuropean Parliament
Resolution on the rule of law in Malta
Adopted a month after the assassination, the Parliament's first resolution on the case called for close monitoring of the rule of law in Malta and independent investigation of the killing.
Link to the Malta caseThe Parliament's first formal response to the assassination.
Reading these measures
- European Parliament resolutions are political texts; they are not binding on member states. Regulations and directives are binding, but directives take effect only once transposed into national law.
- Where an instrument does not mention Malta or Daphne Caruana Galizia, this page says so. The relationship between the case and EU legislation is described by advocacy groups and by parliamentarians rather than by the legal texts themselves.