With all the ballyhoo over the new e-residence permit system and the subsequent costs of the replacement exercise from the old ID cards, I wonder what benefits the EU citizen gains from registering for this, as opposed to having an ID card or passport from an EU country. Surely, under EU laws there is no need to have these permits for I understood that every EU citizen residing in dual EU countries is entitled to the same facilities offered by those two EU countries.

The letter by the Director for Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs, Mariella Grech (February 1) emphasises an unparallelled means test exercise on EU citizens before June 30, based on residency. What is the benefit of this system over and above being an EU citizen? What are the repercussions of this system when implemented? Are bus passes to be withdrawn from the over 60+? No discount on Gozo ferries given, applying for a Maltese bank account or even not being able to declare a Malta ID verification number? All the above are the requirements at present.

Are non-applicants of the EU for this e-residence permit card, having lived in Malta for a number of years with the stigma of a code A for alien, now facing even a far worse scenario with this e-residence permit card? Surely, this another avenue to suppress the entitlement of EU citizenship within Malta.