GWU endorses golden passport, ‘of benefit to workers’

The General Workers Union has endorsed the Individual Investor Programme, which will sell Maltese citizenship for €1.15 million to non-EU nationals.

It joins constituted bodies such as the Chamber of Commerce, Finance Malta, the Malta Developers Association and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, which are in favour of the sale of Maltese passports.

The new price tag, up from the original €650,000 donation first contemplated, includes commitments by the IIP citizens to purchase a €350,000 property and €150,000 in government stocks, retaining them for a minimum of five years.

"We are sure that the citizenship scheme, as reviewed, will be of benefit to the country, particularly to workers and their families. Amongst its objectives, the scheme will provide for the creation of work and reduction of precarity," the union said in a statement.

The union did not explain how the €1.15 million passport sale would reduce precarious employment.

The GWU said it was satisfied that 70% of the €650,000 donation would be passed on to a posterity fund to finance educational and social programmes, and that the investment portion was tied to property and stocks.

In a related statement, the MHRA said that its senior vice-president Tony Zahra had been personally involved in the negotiations between the Opposition and government on the IIP. "Whilst the IIP issue does not fall directly within the remit of the association, nevertheless in the interest of the country through a personal involvement of its senior vice president and the President of the Chamber of Commerce, amongst others, efforts were made to find a consensus between the political parties on this matter."

MHRA President Paul Bugeja warned both government and the opposition party that while it was positive to seek alternative sources of finance to run the country, "the worst possible scenario will be if this matter ends up from a local political ball game into the international level which could eventually harm our industry beyond repair. In this light MHRA will never tire in calling on our politicians to seek consensus on such initiatives."