EU unveils plans to allow courts to dismiss cases intended to chill free speech
Courts will be able to dismiss vexatious lawsuits and order claimants to pay procedural costs, penalties and compensation under European Union plans to introduce anti-SLAPP legislation. The proposed directive, unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday, would significantly bolster legal safeguards for journalists, activists and others who face unfounded or abusive lawsuits. Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, are a form of legal harassment used by wealthy or powerful actors to block or chill reporting on issues of public interest that involve them. A study by a coalition of NGOs campaigning against such suits concluded that Malta had the highest number of such legal cases per capita, with murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia the most frequent target. Efforts to introduce an EU-wide anti-SLAPP law date back years, with Maltese MEP David Casa having first written to the EU Commission in November 2017 to warn about SLAPP threats being made by Pilatus Bank and call for EU intervention. Over the ensuing years, MEPs have debated various proposals to that effect, including a key report co-authored by Roberta Metsola, a Maltese MEP who now serves as...