Malta falls from 17th to 33rd in world freedom ranking

Malta fell from 17th place to 33rd in the latest ranking by Washington-based Freedom House, which gauges democracy and liberty in 195 countries and 14 territories across the globe. According to the latest Freedom House report, published Monday night, though considered free, Malta scored 92 points in the aggregate ranking out of 100, down four points (-4) from 96 in the previous study a year ago. The countries faring worse than Malta were Gabon (-9), Tunisia (-8), Congo (-6), Tanzania (-6), Turkey (-6) and the Maldives (-5). Although the specific country report with details about Malta has not been published yet, a spokeswoman for Freedom House described the drop as an accumulation of problems that emerged in recent years. “The murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia made a big impact on Malta’s ranking, as this was of big concern to us,” she said. “However, there are many other factors accumulating over the past years which are having a negative impact on Malta’s reputation,” the spokeswoman added. Among other issues, she mentioned the Individual Investment Programme, which facilitates the sale of Maltese passports, a lack of transparency in the application and...