The System Isn’t Broken. It’s Working Exactly As They Designed It.

 Let’s not pretend. What’s happening in Malta isn’t a mistake. It’s not a bug in the system. It is the system.

Our institutions—those sturdy bricks that are supposed to keep power in check—have been hollowed out like a chocolate Easter egg. Nice to look at. Shiny, even. But bite into it and you find there’s nothing there. No substance. No spine. No resistance. 

And here’s the sick twist: it’s all happening legally. Quietly. Efficiently. And with a smile.

We didn’t wake up to tanks in the streets. No strongmen banging fists on podiums. What we got was a carefully choreographed series of “reforms” and “updates”—each one just technical enough to bore the public, just ambiguous enough to avoid outrage, and just effective enough to neuter any serious oversight.

The judiciary? Once a pillar of justice, now more of a suggestion. Appointments based on merit? Don’t be naïve. For years, judges were chosen by whoever held the keys to Castille. Loyalty, not law, was the ladder up. Even after EU pressure forced some change, the culture hasn’t shifted. Those who dare speak out risk becoming professional ghosts. The rest? They keep their heads down and their robes clean.

The Planning Authority? Let’s not even go there. Actually, let’s. It’s become a parody of itself. It now dishes out permits like a dodgy barman serving drinks past closing time—no rules, no shame, and no consequences. And if you try to appeal? The tribunal might soon lose the power to overturn anything. So congratulations: you’re stuck in a loop where the Authority gets to review its own mess. It’s not justice. It’s a circus. And we’re the clowns.

But don’t worry, they’ll tell you—it’s all being done “in the national interest.”

Right.

Anti-corruption laws? We’ve got them. Oh yes. On paper, Malta looks like a Scandinavian utopia. But that’s the thing about paper—it’s flammable. Try invoking the Freedom of Information Act and watch the institutions dance the tango of delay and denial. Whistleblower protections? Limited. Asset declarations? Filed, sure—but who’s checking? No one with any real power, that’s for sure.

What we’ve created is a system that looks democratic. It has committees. Reports. Hearings. All the furniture of accountability. But it functions like a rigged game show. The powerful get a backstage pass. The rest of us wait in the queue, wondering why nothing ever changes.

And before anyone starts pointing fingers at one party or the other—this isn’t about left or right. It’s about rot. Deep, structural rot that’s been festering for years. Governments change. The pattern doesn’t.

Sound familiar? It should. We’ve seen this playbook before—in Hungary, in Poland, in Turkey. The language is always the same: “reform,” “efficiency,” “the will of the people.” But behind the curtain, the same thing happens: independent institutions become toothless, public watchdogs get muzzled, and the rule of law becomes a polite suggestion.

Here’s what makes it worse: most people know. They feel it. They see it. But they’ve been conditioned to shrug. “That’s Malta,” they say. As if that excuses anything.

Well, no. That’s not good enough.

This isn’t inevitable. This isn’t fate. It’s deliberate. And if we don’t snap out of our collective trance, the final nail won’t be hammered in by some dictator. It’ll be slid in silently, while we scroll, sip, and sigh.

Yes, we’re still in the EU. Yes, the courts in Luxembourg still have some say. But for how long? European oversight is a lifeline—but it’s not a replacement for national backbone. And that’s what we’re running out of.

Because here’s the blunt truth: this isn’t about bad apples. It’s about a poisoned orchard. And unless we rip up the roots, we’ll be here again, a few years from now, writing the same piece with different names.

So let’s stop pretending. Let’s stop being polite. This is the record. It’s been written in black and white.

The only question is: are we going to change it, or are we going to become another cautionary tale Europe barely remembers?