MP proposes citizenship to reward foreigners for outstanding service to Malta

Nationalist MP Mario de Marco has proposed an amendment to the Citizenship Act to authorise the Prime Minister to grant Maltese citizenship to any person who would have given exceptional service to Malta or to humanity.

He was speaking during the debate on the Citizenship Act (amendment) Bill which says that the Prime Minister may authorise the minister responsible for citizenship to issue a certificate of naturalisation as a citizen of Malta to the spouse of any citizen of Malta when either the spouse or the said citizen would have rendered exceptional services to Malta or humanity.

Dr de Marco said one should be courageous enough to take a step further than what was being proposed, with the Prime Minister being given the discretion to authorise the minister to grant Maltese citizenship to any person who would have given exceptional service to Malta or to humanity irrespective of whether this person's spouse was Maltese or not, and without having to meet the residence criteria laid down in the law.

Such a procedure, he pointed out, would not be unlike the honoris causa degrees awarded by the university in recognition of the service which outstanding personalities would have given.

Earlier Dr de Marco welcomed the Bill, whose main purpose is to allow Maltese citizenship, by registration, to second and subsequent generations of persons of Maltese descent born abroad.

It was important not to be insular in one's thoughts and to look further from one's shores, giving citizenship to people who were connected with Malta, he said.

He also recalled the memory of Frank Asfar who emigrated to the US as a young boy and who died last year. He was a friend of Malta, retained links with the country and always promoted Malta's interests in New York and in the UK, Dr de Marco said.

Interjecting, Labour MP Leo Brincat associated himself with Dr de Marco.

Continuing, the Nationalist MP said this Bill would help ensure that those whose ancestors had left Malta would not feel like they had lost their Maltese identity. This government, he said, had a record of making it easier for migrants to hold Maltese citizenship and the citizenship of their country of adoption, as evidenced by amendments to the Citizenship Act made since 1984.

Earlier, Nationalist MP Frederick Azzopardi also spoke on how the Citizenship Act and, particularly, the concept of dual citizenship, had evolved.

For many years, he said, emigration was considered a safety valve for a tiny island undergoing tough economic conditions. Poor living standards and high unemployment forced thousands to seek better pastures, particularly in Australia, Canada and the US. Emigration started to dwindle at around 1975 and it was now a thing of the past, but Malta still had a duty to those Maltese living abroad, who were also worthy ambassadors of the Island.

Many Maltese migrants whose children and grandchildren were born abroad wanted them to retain their links with Malta, and this was now being made much easier by this Bill, following up on the milestone dual citizenship amendments made in the year 2000.

Leo Brincat (MLP) said a signal needed to be sent to all Maltese of whichever generation living overseas that they were still considered a part of Maltese society. Labour supported any improvement in citizenship legislation, with all the benefits, duties and obligations it brought with it.

Labour, in its document entitled The Maltese Abroad underlined the need for a stronger awareness of the sacrifices faced by Maltese throughout the history of migration out of Malta. It was also proposing more effective action to strengthen the links with migrants. One such link was citizenship, which was why legislation on citizenship should be continuously reviewed in order to make it ever better.

Labour was also saying that the history of migration should feature in the national educational curriculum and a museum on migration should be set up in Malta, an idea that several Maltese abroad embraced.

There should be efforts to strengthen the Maltese language and identity abroad through scholarships and more extensive use of information technology. A unit should be set up within the Foreign Ministry to take care of just such aspects.

Mr Brincat said the Bill proposed positive changes. The reforms were good, but attention must be paid to detail. Legislation should not be complicated because the risk was that a situation would arise to leave second-generation Maltese hanging in mid-air.

No matter what the circumstances, children should never be made to suffer for what their parents had done or not with regard to citizenship. Once returned to power, Labour would again review the situation and extend citizenship to all people of Maltese descent.

Interjecting, Minister Borg said that rather than deal with second or third generations, the government would be careful to establish there would be no missing link down the line.

Continuing, Mr Brincat said it had first been said that it was only the second generation that would be affected, but, in Australia Dr Borg had explained that citizenship would be extended to subsequent generations.

Although everyone agreed that there should be no missing links, there was a lot to be said about this. The children of anybody who missed applying for citizenship would be precluded from becoming Maltese citizens themselves. This seemed just on paper, but not in actual fact. Sometimes, third-generation Maltese were even more jealous of their Maltese links than their parents had ever been. On tourism, Mr Brincat said there was no real representation in New York. Callers were referred to California and then to the Air Malta website.

The processing of applications for Maltese passports, too, left a lot to be desired, with up to a month required in some cases.

Foreigners visiting Malta were often faced with grave difficulties when dealing with Maltese officialdom. Bureaucracy could wreak havoc with visa applications.

Mr Brincat expressed satisfaction with Dr Borg's assurance that once Malta adhered to the Schengen arrangements there would be a specific unit dealing with the new situation.

Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said this was a progressive Bill which widened the concept of citizenship. In contrast, history was replete with examples abroad where the laws were used to restrict citizenship.

Malta stood to benefit from opening its doors to citizenship for all those having Maltese roots, not least because it strengthened the sense of identity. Over the past few years, 12,000 migrants had assumed dual citizenship. This had not caused any problems to Malta. On the contrary, it strengthened the links between migrants and Malta not least in the cultural and language sectors.

The value of Maltese citizenship increased when Malta joined the EU. All Maltese citizens were EU citizens and enjoyed the EU-wide rights of residence, freedom of movement, the right to work, the right to vote and stand for local and European elections and the right for diplomatic and consular protection from any EU member state.

There were several people who re-obtained Maltese citizenship but never used their Maltese passport. They only got Maltese citizenship because they were proud of their roots, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

Other speakers will be reported tomorrow.