Malta’s former President and prime minister, Eddie Fenech Adami, yesterday said he was against the sale of Maltese citizenship in principle “for whatever reason”. Dr Fenech Adami made it clear that his various governments never considered anything of the sort as he deemed citizenship should not be used as some kind of commodity.

“I don’t agree with such a scheme as a matter of principle and for whatever positive reason there might be,” Dr Fenech Adami said.

“I find such a scheme completely objectionable as citizenship should not be on offer,” he insisted.

I don’t agree with such a scheme as a matter of principle

Describing the latest move by the government to remove the secrecy clause from the scheme as a positive development, Dr Fenech Adami appealed for consensus on such a sensitive issue. The country’s reputation, he said, was at stake. “On such things there is definitely the need for consensus even with the Opposition. The government’s approach on this scheme should be consensual although I would still prefer the scheme to be dropped altogether.”

Pressed to say whether the scheme would be more acceptable if tied to some sort of long-term investment by foreign individuals, Dr Fenech Adami said he would still be against offering this sort of citizenship.

“Citizenship should not be offered to people who do not qualify for it under the current laws. For me, this is a point of principle.”

Hours after President George Abela signed the Bill into law last Friday, the government announced that it was going to drop the clause granting anonymity to those who become citizens under the scheme.

The move followed intense pressure by the Nationalist opposition and scores of critical articles in the international media.

While welcoming the latest development, the PN has not dropped its criticism of the scheme, because it does not impose any sort of long-term commitment to Malta.

According to Henley & Partners, the government’s concessionaire, no such scheme for instant citizenship exists within the EU. Comparable programmes only exist in a few Caribbean islands.