MEPs object to Malta putting its citizenship up for sale
Anna Sonny, 17 January 2014
MEPs have voted against Malta’s controversial scheme to sell Maltese citizenship for €650,000. The scheme is designed to attract wealthy foreigners from countries such as Russia and China, in order to boost the small island’s economy. Malta joined the EU in 2004; it is part of the Schengen area (and has a visa waiver agreement with the US), meaning that the country will effectively be selling EU citizenship, and the bloc is not happy about it.
Other countries in the EU do have similar schemes that fast-track citizenship for wealthy investors. When Cyprus suffered financial collapse last year and had to impose a levy on foreign investors’ savings, the government relaxed citizenship rules for those who had lost more than €3 million through the levy, in a bid to get them to stay on the island. Even Britain makes residency permits for non-EU citizens more easily available to those who come to the country with £1 million or more to invest.
But the main issue with Malta’s scheme seems to be the lack of criteria involved for prospective applicants. Those wishing to purchase citizenship do not have to even live in the country – they simply have to come up with a €650,000 down payment, buy at least €350,000 worth of Maltese property and €150,000 in government bonds in order to be granted immediate citizenship. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has described the scheme, which has already attracted 45 applicants, as an ‘investment’ programme and is expecting it to provide €1 billion in funding for hospitals, medicine, healthcare, infrastructure and education on the island. Migrants who already live in Malta and have struggled to get citizenship may not see the scheme in such a good light.
Although some EU leaders have spoken out about the scheme, it is up to national governments what they do with their citizenship; the EU has no competences in this policy area, but some MEPs have vowed to look for a way to challenge the scheme on legal grounds.
Whether Malta goes ahead with the plan or not, the scheme has certainly opened up the issue of citizenship rights to debate, and the EU may well look for a way to legislate on this issue in the future.