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Political leaders attempt to score points over property negotiations package

By Marika Azzopardi

As Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Borg was singing victory yesterday, Opposition leader Alfred Sant was condemning the government’s negotiations’ package for Malta’s European Union membership bid.

This time a round the hot potato is the ease with which foreigners will be able to obtain property in Malta and Gozo.

What has been referred to by the minister as the greatest success in a crucial part of the accession negotiations, is the permanent special arrangement to retain restrictions on the purchase of property in Malta by foreigners, once the country joins the EU.

Through reportedly tough negotiations, Brussels accepted Malta’s determined limit set on allowing foreigners the purchase of property only after they have been residing in Malta for five years. "This concession is limited to Malta only. Brussels has made emphasis on the fact that this will not be a precedent for other applicant countries. The EU gave this concession as it felt Malta had serious reasons to make this request due to the limited amount of space available, the population density on the Islands and the need to control urbanisation," Dr Borg said.

The negotiations were said to have been intense and difficult as other EU members states had objected to this special treatment reserved for Malta in this sphere of the negotiations. There were also talks of reducing the number of years of residence down to three or four, however the Maltese team of negotiators were set on the five-year mark. After the agreement was reached, the EU confirmed that the arrangement is to be set up in a protocol to be annexed to the agreement of accession.

But Labour leader Alfred Sant had a different way of looking at the negotiations outcome.

In a public speech made in Hamrun on Saturday, Dr Sant said that foreign nationals who will be allowed to live in Malta and purchase property here, will be competing directly with Maltese nationals, especially with young couples.

The latter will find themselves house-searching on parallel levels to foreigners, without having a financial back-up to match, he said, adding: "It is a well-known fact that local youths looking for a first property are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet towards taking a bank loan for such a purpose, even when both partners are employed."

Dr Sant criticised the manner in which the Nationalist government is presenting matters, accusing negotiators of accepting anything which Brussels presents, at the risk of causing detriment to the general Maltese public.

Yet as both political leaders were attempting to score points, the facts show foreigners are increasingly finding property in Malta to be exorbitant, compared to Italy, France, spain and Greece.