I have a bone to pick with Joseph Vella Bonnici (‘Citizenship and the IIP’, November 28). I would like to ask him to never again mention Malta in the same breath as “flag of convenience”. As the person who has been chosen to be the executive chairman of Identity Malta, he should know better and I would suggest that, next time, he seeks advice before rushing to print.

Malta is today the largest flag in Europe through hard slog and toil over the past 26 years. Slog and toil that needs to continue even today because the moment one relaxes in one’s endeavours to retain the number one spot one will inevitably start to slip and, once on the slippery slope, it’s all downhill from there.

Thanks to solid policy set by the government, a ‘can do’ regulator and Maltese service providers who have risen to the occasion, proud of the fact that they have a first-class product for the market, we are today the envy of the international maritime community.

A visit to any international forum ranging from the International Maritime Organisation to the Comite Maritime International will show Vella Bonnici that the Malta flag is held in exceptionally high esteem and is a force to be reckoned with.

The days when some foreign elements attempt to put us down by citing the ‘flag of convenience’ banner have disappeared.

When we have all been doing our damnest to fly our flag high and be proud of our standards, hitting out hard at anyone who dares put the word Malta and the words ‘flag of convenience’ in the same sentence, it is so off-the-wall to have a compatriot who has, if you don’t mind, been entrusted with selling our passports, talk about Malta moving from “offering flags of convenience”. This is bordering on the sacrilegious.

If he has done this in a pathetic attempt to equate the efforts of creating our maritime flag with, or to justify, this ‘cunning’ plan to flog our passports, don’t bother. There is nothing he or the Prime Minister can possibly say to justify the tackiness of this scheme.

They should also really stop trying to convince us that this is the way to bring ‘talent’. ‘Talent’ my foot. You do not attract ‘talent’ by accepting €650,000 from a perfect stranger who can afford to pay that sum and wants a European passport. They don’t even have to set foot in Malta, remember?

By all means, let us talk about granting citizenship to those really talented individuals, artists, scientists, doctors, economists, industrialists, investors who, with their talent, come to our country and live with us in Malta and associate themselves with us, the Maltese, and are proud to do so.

This latest citizenship stunt has set us back 26 years

Those who consider Malta their home; who send their children to our schools; who share their talents with us and contribute to our economy so Malta, as a nation, can benefit and continue to thrive and excel.

By all means, give citizenship to such talented people. However, this and talent have absolutely nothing to do with the payment of cash by foreigners otherwise totally unconnected with our country who can afford that cash. That is tacky, common and cheap and adds zero value and no amount of sweet talk is going to convince anyone with a brain between the ears otherwise.

In fact, not only does it add zero value, it detracts from the stability and the high standards this country has set for itself and unless something is done soon it will turn us into the laughing stock of the civilised world.

It really saddens me to say that this latest citizenship stunt has set us back 26 years. Twenty-six years ago I started my first job in a London law firm. I call those years the dark ages of Maltese politics. My seniors there would speak to me and in a very sarcastic manner would say: “How is it in Malta now? How is Dom Mintoff? Is he still a good friend of Gaddafi?” I would try to keep my head held high while wishing I could crawl into a hole in the ground.

Over the past 25 years, my seniors and now my peers worldwide have been flabbergasted at how this country of ours has developed one important niche after another attracting real talent and real investment. Gone were the sarcastic comments to be replaced by awe and admiration.

Since this citizenship fiasco was launched, it’s déjà vu. I am now being stopped by my overseas peers and I am again suffering the indignity of having to listen to them say: “How is it in Malta now? Things must be difficult if your government is reduced to selling passports for cash?” Like 26 years ago, I hold my head up high, while wishing I could crawl into a hole in the ground.

Being much older, now my response is: “Yes, we do have a new law about the matter. However, it’s being fine tuned.”

There is only one type of fine tuning to be done here if the Prime Minister wants to salvage the situation: scrap it. Scrap the citizenship-for-cash scheme and let us talk about citizenship criteria that make sense and which will raise our standards not throw them out of the window.

Ann Fenech is president of the PN executive committee.