UK ministers are under growing pressure to intervene in Malta’s plan to sell EU passports for €650,000, allowing buyers immediate rights of residency in member states, according to the Financial Times.
The controversial cash-for-citizenship scheme is still sparking negative publicity for Malta, with the influential business newspaper yesterday dedicating its front page story to the matter.
The London-based newspaper said many European governments and the European Commission were raising eyebrows over the island’s initiative.
Quoting EU officials, the FT said although the Commission had no formal right to intervene – citizenship is considered in the Treaties to be a sovereign issue – they “privately recognise the Maltese government’s move poses serious concerns to other member states’ security”.
According to the newspaper, the US also had reservations, which might have implications for the visa waiver programme Malta benefits from. Only a few weeks ago, the US embassy in Malta declined to comment on whether the US government had raised the issue with Maltese authorities.
David Hanson, the UK’s shadow immigration minister, said he had “serious concerns” about the proposal and had tabled parliamentary questions to find out what steps the Home Office had taken to oppose it.
“This risks being a backdoor route to reside anywhere in the EU and which is not a tight or appropriate immigration policy.”
European People’s Party vice chairman Manfred Weber complained of the threat to those in the passport-free Schengen area.
“Schengen is a European project based on mutual trust and should not be undermined by steps like this,” he said.
The FT also reported on the scheme’s potential success, particularly among wealthy Chinese, Russians and Indians.
Describing it as the only EU scheme offering “instant passports”, the article quotes Kamal Rahman, head of commercial law firm Mishcon de Reya, saying: “We have a large number of clients urgently awaiting [its] launch.”
Meanwhile, Alternattiva Demo-kratika yesterday appealed for the resumption of talks between the parties over the issue. Times of Malta yesterday revealed talks had been on hold by the government for the past two weeks.
AD chairman Arnold Cassola called the situation unacceptable and said it was “shameful” that the only public information on the talks was given by the Finance Minister in the European Parliament where he admitted that mistakes had been made.
He said Maltese politicians had no right “to make a fool out of the whole Maltese nation because of their intransigence”.