Brussels, 23/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to examine measures implemented in Malta relating to the sale of Maltese passports to foreign nationals for the sum of €650,000 (and subject to other conditions). It is currently studying the issue on the ground in the hope of being able to find a legal response, EuObserver reported on Thursday 23 January.
The Commission is preparing a questionnaire relating to the lawfulness of the scheme, a questionnaire that it intends to send to the Maltese authorities next week. The European Commission continued its discussion on this subject with Valetta on the sidelines of the informal meeting of European justice and home affairs ministers, in Athens on Thursday 23 January.
On 16 January this year, the Maltese government validated a plan to sell passports for the sum of €650,000 to non-EU nationals who also meet other conditions, such as the purchase of property worth €350,000. Currently, Valetta states only 1,800 passports are for sale. Once the criteria have been met, the foreign nationals would become Maltese nationals and, consequently, citizens of the European Union.
There was considerable emotion expressed on this matter at the European Parliament on 16 January. Parliament adopted a resolution deploring the Maltese scheme and calling more generally on member states not to put a price tag on European values. Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding had acknowledged that there were few legal means that could be resorted to, given that the subject remains exclusively a matter of national state competence. She had nonetheless stated her blunt refusal of such a scheme, saying that the citizenship of a country entails rights and duties and that is why member states must use their prerogatives in a spirit of sincere cooperation. Reding said that member states should only grant nationality if there are genuine links and connections between the person and the country in question. The Commission could, moreover, question the Maltese authorities on the concept of sincere cooperation between member states, a concept which is set out in the treaties. (SP/transl.jl)