Government propaganda is trying to make us believe that the residency programme being suggested to the UK government is the same as Joseph Muscat’s (I would not even call it Malta’s) passports-for-cash cunning plan.
In fact, it is diametrically the opposite: the UK scheme amounts to residency without citizenship whereas Muscat’s is citizenship without residency.
Our government is telling rich foreigners: “We will give you Maltese citizenship but you won’t have to live in Malta.” The UK tells them: “We will not give you British citizenship but you may live in Britain.”
In the British programme, it is envisaged that, after a number of years’ residency, applicants will be allowed to apply for citizenship. This is exactly the kind of programme the Maltese Opposition has been trying to persuade our government to adopt.