Search Results for: Malta

Members of the European Parliament Wednesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a legislative proposal asking the European Commission to propose a law abolishing “golden passport” schemes by 2025. The European Parliament stressed that golden passports, or “citizen by investment” schemes, allow third-country nationals to acquire citizenship rights in exchange for money and “undermine the essence [...]

Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected a request Wednesday to hold a referendum on legalizing the cultivation of both marijuana and other psychoactive plants and fungi. In December, activists were able to compile more than 630,000 signatures for the measure, validated by a separate court last month. Although there were more than enough valid signatures for the [...]

Amnesty International Monday released a statement condemning the European Union’s cooperation with Libyan authorities to intercept refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. According to Amnesty, “migrants and refugees both in and outside of detention in Libya are systematically subjected to a litany of abuses by militias, armed groups and security forces with [...]

The US Department of State Wednesday publicly designated two former Maltese government officials and their immediate families, barring them from entering the US over alleged significant corruption. The two officials barred from entry are Konrad Mizzi, a former energy and conservation minister, and Keith Schembri, former chief of staff to the prime minister. Their immediate [...]

The European Commission proposed Friday to amend its EU Single Market legislation to ensure the continued flow of medicines between Britain and Northern Ireland. The Commission has made this proposal to facilitate the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland on the ground. The Protocol is part of the Brexit divorce agreement to ensure a [...]

Several European organizations on Thursday called upon Poland to make changes to the legal definition of rape and condemned attacks on media and the free press. The Council of Europe praised recent reforms allowing law enforcement to temporarily evict domestic abusers, but said that Poland should “align” its definition of rape with the requirements of [...]

Most people in our societies identify as male or female, a man or a woman; but there have been people around the globe in different eras that have claimed other identities regarding their gender identity and have put this binary under challenge. Alternative genders across the globe demonstrate examples of cross-cultural gender diversity. In a [...]

The European Commission on Wednesday advanced its infringement proceedings against the EU island states of Cyprus and Malta over their cash-for-passports schemes, in a move that may eventually see the two states face court proceedings and fines. The Commission justified its actions by arguing that the “golden passport” schemes of the two states, which offered [...]

A judge in Italy’s Catania in the Sicily region on Friday ordered that Italian Senator Matteo Salvini will not stand trial for refusing to allow migrants to disembark from a coastguard ship in July 2019. The right-wing leader had been accused of kidnapping the migrants. From June 2018 to September 2019, Salvini, the leader of far-right [...]

Official probe prompted the attorney general of Cyprus Friday to file the first criminal suit over its cash-for-passports scheme, by which thousands of passports may have been wrongly issued to rich unqualified foreigners. A total of 37 charges have been filed against five individuals and four companies. Additional cases relating to the probe by the ad hoc [...]