Finance Minister Edward Scicluna indicated yesterday that the controversial citizenship-for-cash scheme could be in for a general overhaul.

Speaking during a public session of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels, Prof Scicluna admitted that “there should have been less haste” in putting the scheme together and that the government was now in discussions with the Opposition “to correct it”.

Need to reside in Malta and, ideally, also have some property

Giving details on major changes – practically marking a total departure from the law as approved by Parliament recently – Prof. Scicluna said the government would introduce a capping on the number of people that could obtain Maltese citizenship every year: up to 50.

Also, investors wanting to acquire Maltese citizenship would require a better bonding with the island including the “need to reside in Malta and, ideally, also have some property in Malta”.

Denying that the scheme’s intention was to sell EU passports to plug the deficit, Prof. Scicluna said that “since Malta is short of people of a certain calibre” the scheme was intended to attract bona fide investors.

“If I were an MEP and I hear that Malta is selling passports, I would say, for goodness sake, I wouldn’t expect that from Malta,” he told MEPs.

“You would have been right but it wasn’t like that,” he hastened to add.

Acknowledging that, unfortunately, that was what people thought the scheme was for, he conceded “this is very unfortunate and is being corrected”.

As the scheme stands, Maltese passports will be issued to non-EU residents who pay a one-time €650,000 donation.

Members of their families will be able to acquire further passports for €25,000 each without the need to reside or have any sort of property in Malta.

As originally proposed, the scheme included a secrecy clause laying down that those buying into the scheme would remain anonymous.

However, as opposition to the scheme increased, the government decided to drop the confidentiality clause and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat agreed that the scheme needed to be looked into and talks with the Opposition started with the aim of reaching a consensus. The talks are being held behind closed doors.

Prof. Scicluna said in Brussels that, although the government was initially planning to pump €15 million of the scheme’s proceeds into the Budget, the European Commission had asked that the sum be lowered to €8 million.

He insisted the Budget deficit did not depend on the citizenship scheme and the matter could be addressed without requiring any proceeds from passport sales.

The Nationalist Party noted that Prof. Scicluna admitted in Brussels what the Prime Minister constantly refused to admit: that the scheme was wrong.

The party invited the government to continue with the talks in order to ensure that Maltese citizenship was not sold.

What the minister said

The following are excerpts (a transcript) from Edward Scicluna’s speech in Brussels:

• “The team which got the scheme on how to attract these investors got an international consultant by public call, Henley something Associates, who had worldwide experience and this team – the marketing team I call it – ran very fast beyond what the investment and fund had to do.”

• “The Prime Minister is meeting the Leader of the Opposition and having discussions. The anonymity – or the secrecy if you want to call it like that – as suggested by the contractors we’ve already refuted. In other words, we are now listening. We are talking with practitioners and so on.”

• “You say why you didn’t do [it before]. We admit. Out of many reforms and things we are doing in a very short time... there should have been less haste, especially on the marketing area.”

• “I think the suggestion will be taken that there will be a capping, say not more than 50 [citizenships] a year. That is seriously being considered and we will see it. In other words, it is not true that Malta will be a venue to get through and that all the Chinese will be coming to Malta to get into Europe.”

• “This investment must be developed. There will be more bonding that the person will come to Malta... will reside in Malta and, ideally, also will have some property in Malta as well. Malta being short of, you know, of certain people of calibre would be an attraction of that for it could be a footballer.”