The Government presented a Bill in Parliament entitled ‘An Act to Amend the Maltese Citizenship Act’ on October 8. This was followed by a draft legal notice on a proposed Individual Investor Programme published some days later.
In a nutshell, the amending Bill and the programme, commonly being referred to as the Maltese Citizenship Scheme, aim to give the possibility to those who are willing to pay €650,000 to buy Maltese citizenship.
Whatever the motivation behind this scheme, even if it is, as the Prime Minister himself is reported to have said in London on Thursday, a means “to support our thriving and stable financial services industry since they will be an essential component in the investment mix of our future growth”, I simply cannot accept that we offer our own citizenship for sale.
Do we have to do this to collect €30 million? The idea of raising €30 million to finance a ‘National Development Fund’ is commendable. But is there no other way whereby we can raise these €30 million without having to sell to others that which makes us Maltese – our own citizenship?
When the only condition for the acquisition of Maltese citizenship by some 65 ‘individual investors’, even if they are “extremely highly talented and networked people from around the world”, is the payment of a sum of money, I am worried. I remain worried despite all the assurances that may be made that all possible ‘undesirables’ shall be weeded out during the consideration of the application stage.
Others have already made the point that the scheme can raise EU and US concerns, since anyone buying Maltese citizenship in this way will have a Maltese passport with the enjoyment of the four freedoms, including free movement, within the EU and visa-free access to the US. Whether one cares to admit it or not, all this can raise eyebrows in certain quarters and can cause us headaches we should be well advised to avoid.
Another aspect that needs to be redressed concerns the vetting of those who apply for citizenship. I find it difficult to accept that this task should be entrusted to a foreign company. Is it possible that we ourselves cannot do at least as good and thorough a job, when it comes to scrutinising applicants, to eliminate those who are not considered worthy and to choose the best from among those that are?
Maybe to counter somewhat the fact that it is a private company that evaluates the applicants, the minister responsible and the so-called Identity Malta (an agency set up by Legal Notice of September 10) are given wide-ranging powers.
Is there no other way we can raise these €30 million without having to sell to others that which makes us Maltese – our own citizenship?
In my view, giving the right to vet applicants to a private company, and a foreign one at that, and giving wide-ranging powers to the minister together with the recently formed agency, are both wrong.
I would have thought that the responsibility to recommend to the minister the grant of citizenship or otherwise should have been left exclusively in the hands of a committee of the House or of a public body having within it a representative from both sides of the House, given the sensitivity and the national importance of the whole question of the grant or the refusal of Maltese citizenship. The minister’s own powers and those of Identity Malta in the whole affair can then be significantly curtailed.
Concern about this scheme has come from various quarters. The Opposition has expressed its concerns loudly enough. The Leader of the Opposition has, however, also offered to work together with the Government in order to seek a concensus on the amendment act and the scheme.
It should be possible for the Government to accept a change in the procedure to follow when dealing with applications under the Individual Investor Programme and to agree to the introduction of certain other conditions, apart from the payment of a sum of money, like a reasonably short period of residence before acquisition of citizenship, and a commitment to make an effective investment in Malta within a limited timeframe.
Acceptance of such additional conditions would mean that the acquisition of citizenship would be made dependant on a real individual investor programme, and not on a cash purchase. This would allay worries regarding ‘undesirables’ and should appease any possible EU or US concerns.
I am sure that 65 individuals from all over the world, who would be willing to accept such conditions, can be found without too much trouble.
Joe Borg is a former Foreign Minister and European Commissioner.