PANA committee to honour Caruana Galizia with debate on press freedoms in Malta

● EP president invites Caruana Galizia family to Brussels

At a meeting of the European Parliamentary (EP) committee on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion – known as the PANA committee – a special debate was announced on press freedoms in Malta to honour murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

It is not clear when such a debate will take place.

The committee met to vote on a draft report which investigated allegations of money laundering and tax avoidance in the EU, together with draft recommendations. The committee was set up in response to the Panama Papers scandal, as well as the older Lux Leaks scandal.

Chair of the PANA committee Werner Langen reiterated his insistence on an international investigation into the murder of Caruana Galizia. “Malta is a small member state and everybody knows each other. She [Caruana Galizia] worked to uncover corruption and did everything necessary to try to uncover these situations even though the most powerful people were involved.

“She was part of the international research team who discovered information about politicians and top people in the Panama Papers. Freedom of opinion is a fundamental principle of the EU and must be upheld. Everybody who went to Malta in February this year, we spoke to her and other journalists about involvement in the Panama Papers, we will not forget her. We will be holding a special debate on press freedoms in Malta specifically to honour her.”

In the meantime, European Parliament president Antonio Tajani has invited the family of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia to attend a special plenary session that will be held in Brussels next week. In a tweet, Tajani said that the journalist was “killed for seeking truth”.