Malta’s citizenship scheme is more rigorous than others in Europe, according to Christian Kalin, head of citizenship practice at Henley & Partners*. He tells Kurt Sansone that EU law is on Malta’s side.
The European Commission may open infringement proceedings against Malta over its citizenship scheme on the basis that this also concerns EU citizenship. Was this aspect ever considered when Henley & Partners advised the government?
Of course, and I think the European Commission’s position is mainly a political position adopted by Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding rather than a legal argument.
Legally the situation is very clear: individual member states have absolute sovereignty over nationality law. When Article 4 of the EU Treaty is invoked there is the element that member states should be considerate to each other...
This is precisely the point that Ms Reding cited in her objections to the Malta scheme.
Indeed, if a member state does something that has significant negative implications on other member states, whatever it is, then I would agree that consultation should be done beforehand.
But what Malta is doing here is completely insignificant and has no implication whatsoever on other member states because the numbers are very small and those who want to become Maltese are of very high standing.
I could see a political battle in trying to bully Malta into accepting changes but the law is on Malta’s side.
MEPs argued that putting citizenship up for sale would create a precedent and open up a market for EU citizenship. Could this be a major challenge to the Malta scheme?
I think the market already exists and Malta is just doing it better than others because it has proper checks in place.
There are so many countries that give citizenship by the hundreds of thousands without any checks. Malta is the first country doing it in the right way by having a thorough process that follows clear and transparent rules.
It is highly hypocritical for many MEPs to have spoken the way they did when the countries they come from are doing something much worse in many ways.
Would you say some of the criticism that has been levelled towards the Malta scheme is a question of competition?
I think it is purely a matter of competition. Maybe not from the European Commission because there I think it is related to political posturing on a personal level [by Ms Reding].
On this matter [citizenship] it is not up to other member states or the EU to tell Malta what to do.
Malta is the first country doing it in the right way by having a thorough process that follows clear and transparent rules
MEPs were critical because Malta’s scheme does not tie down the applicant to a minimum residency period. Do you see this as a problem?
No, because other member states have citizenship policies in place that are much wider in this area.
Italy, for example, has given hundreds of thousands of citizenships to South Americans, who have no connection whatsoever to Italy, have never been there and do not speak Italian but who happen to have a great grandfather who is Italian. Suddenly these people discover they can get an Italian passport and this gives them the chance to come and work in the EU.
This is no different to the Malta scheme, only that Italy does not perform background checks.
I cannot see how the granting of passports in such a wholesale way is less problematic than Malta’s scheme that wants to attract 1,800 families of high calibre.
A similar situation is found in Germany, where some three million ethnic Germans living in non-EU countries have been given citizenship.
Could the whole controversy put off potential applicants to the scheme?
The EU pressure will have less of an impact. It is the critical position of the Opposition [in Malta] that has certainly not helped and will have an impact.
It will probably not be a big impact after the dust has settled.
But from a legal point of view the scheme is definitely not an issue and it just needs more work to explain to applicants that everything is within the law.
Who will be the potential people interested in such a scheme?
There is a lot of misinformation out there. Such a programme absolutely does not attract criminals.
It attracts wealthy, talented investors who for a variety of reasons are interested in having the security and mobility of a European passport and are willing to contribute to Malta’s wellbeing by a significant investment.
*Henley & Partners were chosen to be the government consultants on the Individual Investor Programme, commonly known as the cash-for-citizen-ship scheme.