Dutch MEP says golden passport is ‘anti-social’

A Dutch socialist MEP, Dennis de Jong, has said that EU member states should protest Malta's sale of citizenship instead of having the European Commission regulate who can become a naturalised citizen of member states.

Malta's controversial citizenship sale, which will sell passports for €650,000 to non-EU nationals, will be discussed in the European Parliament tomorrow Wednesday.

While De Jong is a member of the United Green Left, the head of the Labour Party's European family, Hannes Swoboda, has said the citizenship sale "undermines European values".

De Jong, who disagrees with the citizenship sale, has said that member states should threaten to stop the admission of Malta's IIP (Individual Investor Programme) citizens, rather than grant Brussels the competence of who should be an EU citizen.

"There should be a debate on the recognition of passports," de Jong suggested in his blog, saying that not everyone who buys a passport may be eligible to enter the Netherlands.

Under Malta's IIP rules, applicants with criminal backgrounds or proceedings pending against them, are ineligible to purchase a Maltese passport, which also includes the acquisition of a €350,000 property and €150,000 in government stocks.

But De Jong said that Malta was hoping to raise €1 billion from a passport sale that he described as being "anti-social".

"People across the Mediterranean seek asylum in Malta as it's the first land they encounter in their crossing, but rich criminals are more than welcome. Sheer class (in)justice. Incidentally, more and more member states are promoting similar schemes and the Netherlands even allows a millionaire to get a residence permit if you invest at least €1.25 million in the Dutch business community."

On his part, De Jong hinted at what the radical left MEPs' position on the forthcoming resolution on Malta's passport sale is:

"Obviously, this is not a good thing: everyone who has the cash and is also some criminal will be able to settle in the EU. The question is whether we should aid the Maltese system, by allowing free movement for these new citizens."

The European Parliament's resolution, whatever the outcome, has no binding effect on Malta, which retains the right to determine its own naturalisation rules.

"The EU is not a federal state and it's the member states who decide who gets naturalised and under what conditions," de Jong said.