Greens call for termination of golden passports scheme that 'damages' Malta's reputation

ADPD – The Green Party called for the termination of the so-called ‘golden passports’ scheme, saying that the citizenship sale continues to harm Malta’s reputation.

During a press conference on Saturday in Valletta, ADPD Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that although there was a consensus amongst EU members that citizenship was within each member state’s competence, the Maltese scheme ran counter to the EU loyalty principle.

Earlier in the week, the European Commission announced that it will refer Malta to the Court of Justice of the European Union over the scheme, accusing it of breaching the EU Treaty’s principle of sincere cooperation for selling EU citizenship without any genuine link to the country.

“It does not make sense to ignore the impacts of a decision taken by one country, especially in those areas where such a decision can lead to rights in other European Union member states,” Cacopardo said.

He stated that the Maltese passports scheme granted the holder freedom of movement, rights to residence and employment across the European Union. “This impacts other member states. That’s why the loyalty and cooperation obligations arise.”

Cacopardo said that the fact that persons close to PL and PN, including Prime Minister Robert Abela had benefitted from the golden passports scheme, might explain why the government was unwilling to terminate it. He stated that the modifications to the scheme in 2020, were simply a case of “window dressing”.

“No matter how many changes are made to the passport sales scheme, this remains unacceptable in principle. As had been stated in the European Parliament report, EU citizenship is not for sale,” Cacopardo said.

Cacopardo pointed out that prior to the March election, the PN and its leader Bernard Grech did not make their position clear on the matter.

He said that they had stated that funds generated through the scheme could be useful if the granting of passports was transparent. “This only means that the PN is also willing to sell principles for cash.”

“The sale of citizenship scheme is intrinsically wrong and should be terminated immediately. An ADPD MP would have immediately presented a motion asking for its termination. No current MP is currently willing to submit such a motion,” concluded Cacopardo.

ADPD Deputy Chairperson Mario Mallia said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought to the fore the risks of citizenship sale. He said that the scheme continued to attract persons who have been involved in tax evasion, money laundering and organised crime.

He said that a number of these have been identified and their names published after they had already purchased their new citizenship.

“Moreover, the scheme has encouraged land speculation where vacant buildings stand in for so-called residences for people who rarely visit Malta. The basic principle is that citizenship and the protection and privileges that come with it should not be granted on the basis of their purchasing power,” Mallia said.

He stressed that ADPD was the only political party in Malta that had “consistently and unequivocally” insisted since the scheme’s launch in 2014, that granting EU citizenship against payment or investment was unacceptable.

“Malta remains the only Member State to run such a scheme. The government has obstinately carried on in spite that other countries have suspended and scrapped their schemes. This has led the European Commission to take Malta to the Court of Justice – which was another blow to our country’s reputation,” insisted Mallia.