Brussels, 16/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Thursday 16 January, MEPs expressed their total rejection of the Maltese project aimed at “selling” the country's citizenship and, by extension, that of the EU, for €650,000. The project currently concerns the sale of 1,800 passports to wealthy third country nationals.
With the adoption of a resolution (560 votes to 22 and 44 abstentions) by the EPP, S&D, ALDE and Greens/EFA Groups, MEPs sought to make it clear to the Maltese authorities that European citizenship “is not for sale” and that this is a question of mutual trust between member states.
During a heated debate on Wednesday 15 January, MEPs protested loud and clear against this proposal for selling passports that Malta is to make a reality in February. Manfred Weber (EPP, Germany) said the European Parliament has a say in the matter, even if the acquisition and the withdrawal of nationality remains strictly within the national sphere of competence.
Weber said that European citizenship was created with the Maastricht Treaty, which means that everyone is concerned and that it should be possible to talk about it if one does not agree. He said it was incomprehensible to have legislation on purchasing national citizenship, as one cannot buy values, or the right to belong to a society. He urged Maltese citizens to call on their government to put an end to what he called a villainous law.
Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding does not appreciate the draft law either and said so when addressing MEPs. The citizenship of a country “entails respect of rights and duties and that is why member states must use their prerogatives in a spirit of sincere cooperation”, she said. Member states, she went on, should not grant nationality unless there are genuine links between the person and the country in question. She declared that one cannot accept the idea of putting a price tag on the rights arising from the European treaties. Her response is therefore a categorical “no” to selling citizenship. The commissioner does not wish to call for new competences for defining what citizenship is but expects member states to be fully aware of the decisions they make.
In their resolution, MEPs express concern, moreover, regarding a trend that concerns several member states, some of which have already set in place specific provisions for the purchase of visas that could then lead to the acquisition of nationality. Latvia, Portugal, Greece, Hungary and even Cyprus and the United Kingdom have similar programmes. Cyprus, for example, suggests passports could be sold for €3 million in the wake of the banking crisis, French Socialists say. In the UK, which is said to take a dim view of Maltese “competition”, a procedure allows persons who invest more than £1 million to gain a residence permit of indeterminate duration which would then allow them to apply for nationality.
Discrimination against the less wealthy. MEPs say the EU's values and achievements “must not have a price tag” and must not be put up for sale. Rights conferred by European citizenship, such as the right to move or reside freely within the EU, should never become a “tradable commodity”. Furthermore, MEPs pointed out, the “citizenship for investment” schemes only allow the richest third-country nationals to obtain EU citizenship, without any other criteria being considered which implies discrimination.
MEPs see a whole series of problems: the Maltese regime will not, for example, be to the benefit of the Maltese citizens “as the foreign investors concerned will not be required to pay taxes”. Some MEPs believe this will be a boost to organised crime and money laundering. “I am deeply shocked by the Maltese government's decision to sell passports without there being the condition of residence in the country. Any gangster could now purchase a Maltese passport and then set up residence in Paris or Rome the very next day!” (given that Malta is a member of Schengen), said Véronique Mathieu Houillon (EPP, France). The president of the S&D Group, Hannes Swoboda of Austria, took the view that the polemic on the Maltese draft legislation requires a European debate as it concerns European citizenship. That debate, however, should not, he says, give rise to disproportionate reactions. The Maltese government, which is Socialist, is not the only one to suggest such a scheme, he pointed out. The S&D Group called, in vain, for the name “Malta” to be removed from the text of the resolution. In its text, the EP calls on the Maltese authorities to bring their draft legislation into line with European principles and calls on the Commission to examine all practices in force in member states. (SP/transl.jl)