Malta opposes plan to centralise crypto regulation supervision at EU level ——————————————————— Valletta’s skyline may be changing with every new fintech plaque that appears on 18th-century limestone, but the island’s government is determined that Brussels won’t be the one holding the rubber stamp. Last week Malta formally rejected a European Commission proposal to shift day-to-day…
**Digital Platforms and Their Consequences for Democracy: A Maltese Wake-Up Call** On a humid August evening in Valletta, while tourists sip spritzes on Strait Street, a different kind of intoxication is unfolding on Maltese smartphones. Facebook groups buzz with political conspiracy theories, TikTok influencers shape youth opinions on abortion, and Telegram channels coordinate protests against…
# France Braces for Disruption on Day of Anti-Macron ‘Anger’: What Malta Can Learn From French Protest Culture Valletta’s morning commuters may grumble about traffic on Triq ix-Xatt, but across the Mediterranean, France is preparing for a different kind of gridlock. As French unions call for a nationwide day of “anger” against President Emmanuel Macron’s…
# From Valletta to Copenhagen: How Denmark’s Missile Shopping Spree Hits Close to Home in Malta **Valletta** – When Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced this week that Copenhagen will splash out on “long-range precision weapons” to counter a resurgent Russia, the news ping-paced across NATO’s southernmost frontier faster than a Knights-period cannonball. Malta,…
Court experts deny having input in freezing orders issued in Vitals case ====================================================================== Valletta – In a twist that has Maltese cafés buzzing louder than the espresso machine at Café Cordina, the three court-appointed experts who combed through the Vitals Global Healthcare concession have formally denied recommending the €30 million freezing orders slapped on 13…
**Drug-driving law gives judiciary too little leeway, Edward Zammit Lewis warns** Former Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has sounded the alarm over Malta’s zero-tolerance drug-driving laws, arguing that rigid mandatory sentencing strips judges of discretion and risks turning the courts into “assembly lines of punishment.” In a rare critique from within the Labour fold, the…
**Metsola Brings Maltese Sun to Kyiv: How a Small Island’s Top EU Official Is Re-Wiring Europe’s East** Valletta’s Roberta Metsola strode into Kyiv’s snow-dusted Maidan Square this week carrying more than the EU flag. Tucked in her red diplomatic folder was a little packet of ħobż biż-żejt, a gift from her mother, and a silver…
Valletta’s 16th-century walls have seen many envoys come and go, but few arrivals feel as timely as that of Jean-Marc Pisani, the new Head of the European Commission’s Representation in Malta. The French diplomat touched down in mid-May, just as the islands were shaking off the last Covid restrictions and bracing for a summer that…
**MEP Warns Annual VRT Checks Would Unfairly Hit Maltese Motorists** Maltese drivers could soon find themselves shelling out more cash and queuing more often if Brussels pushes through plans to make vehicle roadworthiness tests an annual ordeal. Nationalist MEP Peter Agius has slammed the proposal, arguing it would “unfairly penalise” islanders who already grapple with…
**Royal Fanfare, Maltese Ears: What Trump’s Gold-Leaf London Welcome Means for the Rock in the Middle** By the time the Valletta bus depot clock struck 9 a.m., café TVs normally tuned to ONE’s soap replays had flicked to BBC World. Pensioners nursing ħobż biż-żejt watched a scarlet-clad Welsh Guards band strike up “Hail to the…
**Roberta Metsola’s Kyiv Office: How Malta’s President of the European Parliament is Putting the Island on Ukraine’s Front Line** Valletta’s morning café chatter has a new topic: Roberta Metsola just told the world that the European Parliament will keep a permanent liaison office in Kyiv, and she did it with the same straight-talking energy she…
**Poison on the Mediterranean Wind: Navalny’s Widow Points to Kremlin as Malta’s Russian Community Reels** Valletta’s Grand Harbour fell silent for a heartbeat on Monday afternoon when Yulia Navalnaya’s voice crackled through car radios and café loud-speakers: “They killed my husband with poison, then they hid his body from us.” Within minutes, Maltese commuters pulled…
