Malta’s €250,000 Africa pledge costs less than its golden passport

Malta has pledged just €250,000 to an emergency trust fund for the “stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration” in Africa, that includes €1.8 billion in cash from the European Union’s budget.

Malta’s quarter-of-a-million was only higher than Estonia’s €150,000, Romania’s €100,000, and the mere €50,000 pledged by Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania.

Malta will also spend €800,000 in overseas development aid in 2016, as well as contributing €1.51 million to the European Development Fund.

The tiny island, a vocal critic of the way the European Union has in the past dealt with migratory pressures at its southern flank, this year will be booking €15 million in fees of office from selling citizenship for €650,000 to the global rich.

It will cash in €24 million in 2016 through the controversial Individual Investor Programme, green-lit by the European Commission after MEPs gave Malta an earful for selling entry to the eurozone.

Buyers of the IIP passport must also buy a property worth €350,000 and invest €150,000 in government bonds.

Between July 2014 and June 2015, a total of 245 applications were received, an increase of 41.6% over the last period. There were 11 rejections, mostly from the former Soviet Republics (8).

A total of 75 Letters of Approval were issued. Most of the main applicants, 69, were issued to male applicants while a total of 166 Letters of Approval in Principle were generated for spouses, dependents under 18 years of age and adult dependents.

Eight properties were purchased at a total cost of €6,292,244 implying an average property value of €786, 530. This is over twice the minimum value of property that has to be acquired by successful IIP applicants (€350,000). Annual leases were registered with a total lease value of €4,292,583 implying an average annual lease of €119,238, well above the minimum annual lease requirement stipulated in the regulations and which amounts to €16,000. Total investments amounted to €6,613,332 which works out to the statutory  €150,000 stipulated in the Regulations.

Juncker wants to see more

The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said that out of the €1.8 billion dedicated to the Trust Fund, only €78.2 million were matched by 25 of its member states and another two countries, Norway and Switzerland.

“I want to see more member states contributing and matching the €1.8 billion the EU has put forward,” Juncker told the media.

European Parliament president Martin Schulz said the Valletta Summit was a positive first step where two continents sat down together to discuss the migration crisis with an open mind. “This is the usual behaviour in the European Union,” Schulz said. “We are simply reluctant to save human lives”.

The Trust Fund will benefit a wide range of countries across Africa that encompass the major African migration routes to Europe. These countries are among the most fragile and those most affected by migration. They will draw the greatest benefit from EU financial assistance.

The countries and regions are:

• The Sahel region and Lake Chad area: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
• The Horn of Africa: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
• The North of Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

Neighbouring countries of the eligible countries may benefit, on a case by case basis, from Trust Fund projects with a regional dimension in order to address regional migration flows and related cross- border challenges. 

The Trust Fund aims to help foster stability in the regions and to contribute to better migration management. More specifically, it aims to address the root causes of destabilisation, forced displacement and irregular migration, by promoting economic and equal opportunities, security and development. It constitutes an important instrument for the implementation of the Action plan adopted at the Valletta Summit.