04 September 2007 :

Malta is willing to sign the moratorium proposal of the death penalty. This results from bilateral talks between the Italian Justice Minister Clemente Mastella and Minister for Justice and Home Affairs Dr Tonio Borg. In a statement, the Italian Ministry for Justice said that Justice Minister Mastella has put forward the issue of the capital punishment abolition in the world, proposing that the European Union should take in charge of this delicate question, during a European Council of Minister for Justice’s meeting held in Dresden, Germany. Minister Mastella said he feels that Malta's move "is an important sign of common sensibility which is increasingly affirming itself in various countries."