Activist group Occupy Justice has called on newly-appointed President of the European Council Charles Michel to take decisive action over the political crisis in Malta and call for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Malta is proving to be the first real test for the new heads of the EU’s institutions, with rule of law concerns in the country piling pressure on the EU to act.

A summit, which will focus on the EU budget and its allocation to member states, will be held on 12th, 13th, and 14th December. However, the group are demanding the situation in Malta be put firmly on the agenda, urging the Council to take a position.

“As you are aware, Malta has been in a state of constitutional crisis over the past month because the country’s Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, has been linked not only to corruption and money laundering but also to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“Therefore, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, is, as a minimum politically responsible for this state-sponsored assassination, and yet he hangs on to power, with the clear intentions of obstructing justice,” Occupy Justice said in a letter to President Michel.

The activist group pointed to recent European Parliament fact-finding mission to Malta, where MEPs reiterated calls for Muscat to step down immediately.  Meanwhile, European Commissioner Vera Jourova even suggested that there may be grounds for triggering an Article 7 procedure against Malta.

Muscat resigned in the fallout of the charge and arrest of Yorgen Fenech in connection with the assassination, and the murder’s links to his own office. However, he is insistent on staying on till 12th January with a leadership election taking place.

“We expect the European Union to live up to its own values, listed in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union, which include democracy, justice and the rule of law.”

“If the European Union does not reach out to help its own when democracy is being threatened, then we truly will start questioning what is the point of the European Union if it does not practice what it preaches,” the group said.