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Parliamentary secretary unfazed by bad press on citizenship sale

Edward Zammit Lewis says government still listening to critics and planning to fine-tune IIP

15 November 2013, 12:00am
by Tim Attard Montalto

1 min read

Parliamentary Secretary Edward Zammit Lewis has said he was confident that Malta's cash-for-citizenship scheme would reap the expected revenue the government was aiming for.

Addressing a press conference on Budget 2014, the parliamentary secretary was asked about the international coverage that described Malta as being "cash-strapped" after parliament passed a law legislating the Individual Investor Programme, which will sell Maltese citizenship for €650,000.

"I'm confident that it is a very good scheme. We are listening to people's criticism, the scheme is not set in stone, there will still be room for fine-tuning and consultation is still going," Zammit Lewis said.

The parliamentary secretary said Malta Enterprise had also identified 30 new investment projects since Labour was elected, in such fields as the life sciences and digital gaming. "We are busy making the private sector feel comfortable investing, whether it be foreign or local sources."

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Kif P.S. Zammit Lewis ma intix tibza minn XXmun li qal li ghandu bil-miktub li jista jirrevoka ic'ciottadinanza JEKK xi darba jkun fil-gvern. Veru li dan ma gham,ilx bhal Joseph ghax dan ta ll-ahhar ippublika ir-rapport tasl A.G. Xmun imma mhux se jaghmel hekk ghax inkerlla jkollu jghid li nkiteb bl-inka invizibbli

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Malta is not the only EU country to give perks to rich foreigners. Austria hands out its EU passport to people who make a €3 million donation to charity or a €10 million investment in the country. Portugal's "Golden Residence Permit" gives people who invest €1 million or more the chance to get a passport after five years. Spain and the UK also sell residency, but not citizenship, to wealthy outsiders. Meanwhile, the Cypriot President earlier this year said anyone who lost €3 million or more in the EU bail-out can get fast-track citizenship.According to the latest EU statistics, the UK grants the most new passports each year (177,565 in 2010), followed by France (114,599), Spain (114,584), Germany (109,594), Italy (56,153), the Czech Republic (36,012), Belgium (29,786), the Netherlands (28,598) and Portugal (23,238). http://euobserver.com/justice/122101 Saviour Falzon Hal-Qormi

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I bet my soul that SimonPN are busy sending bad mouthed 'dossiers' to European press to harm Malta's reputation! Instead of helping us move forward they want to drag us into the quagmire of debt that they so dearly endorse?