The Prime Minister seems very fond of pushing forward the idea of substantial constitutional reforms that would pave the way for what he dubs ‘the second republic’. He will definitely not manage to achieve this by the end of the term but he has most definitely managed to earn us the title of a ‘banana republic’ – and without much effort, either.

Malta has hit the international headlines once more and – yet again – for the wrong reasons. The infamous ‘Cash for Passports’ scheme got Malta another beating in the international media and, as The Malta Independent put it in one of its editorials “the problem just won’t go away”. Luxembourg MEP Frank Engel has been quoted as saying that ‘these are the practices of a banana republic’, Socialist MEP Ana Gomes says that she is “absolutely disgusted”, whilst former Latvian Minister Robert ZiIe says that the scheme is amongst others helping Russians with deep pockets to defy EU sanctions.

This time around it was the influential Brussels based newspaper Politico that reported that Malta has been ‘slammed for its cash for passports programme’ and before that it was an article in the Financial Times that said: “Malta’s programme has become a gateway for wealthy investors – mainly from politically unstable parts of the world”. Of course, the scheme had already done the rounds, with the international media reporting it from every corner of the world, to the ire of the majority of MEPs when it was still in the process of being introduced.

Pimping as a serious economic activity

Maltese citizenship entails more than just a legal document. It entails the spirit of the nation and the sentiments, values, history, traditions, culture and identity of a people. So it entails a sense of pride in belonging and a genuine link to other members coming from the same Maltese community. That is why a foreigner who marries a Maltese national has to wait for at least five years before being able to apply for citizenship and it is why Maltese emigrants, Maltese by birth, and their children had their dual citizenship recognised.

So the selling of citizenship, be it Maltese, European or both, is at the outset considered to be an intrinsically bad thing. It is also an insult on several counts: firstly because of the relatively cheap price at which Maltese nationality is given away and secondly because of the government’s lack of trust in the talent of Malta’s people. The government has justified this disgraceful scheme by arguing that the country needs to attract ‘people of talent’.

Thirdly it confers rights, including the right to vote, which simply should not be obtainable for money. Considering the multi-millionaire background, a few hundred votes in Malta could influence the future of the country, with consequences that could well be against the wishes of genuine citizens and members of the community.

Fourthly, the sale of citizenship to people with dubious backgrounds poses a security risk to both Malta and Europe. And, let’s face it, this government is so lax that its due diligence exercise allowed it to employ an internationally black-listed corrupt fraudster as one of its main consultants.

Finally, the sale of citizenship – which the Prime Minister hailed as the scheme that would ‘modernise a prehistoric economy’ – is, in fact, the epitome of the government’s failure to create new economic niches that would ensure a good standard of living for future generations. It is not a worthy follow-up to the achievements of the tourism, financial services and pharmaceutical industries, among others, but rather the capricious and undignified prostitution of a country. If it is not duly restrained, the scheme might make the economy dangerously dependent on it, thus making it crave for the continuous sale of more passports. This will, in effect, lead to colonisation and the slow but eventual annihilation of the Maltese as a national community per se. 

In pondering the obscene scheme, Oscar Wilde’s sagacious words always come to mind: ‘They know the price of everything and the value of nothing’.

The sale of citizenship and other shameful acts

The sale of citizenship, the granting of thousands of visas and the handling of the Panama Papers scandal have done nothing but expose the government – and consequentially the country – to ridicule. And, much as this saddens and angers us, we have to admit that, through its actions – or lack of them – the government has done nothing apart from fuel the damage to our reputation.

The selling of Maltese passports and therefore access to both Malta and the European is still shrouded in controversy for Maltese and fellow Europeans alike. The granting of Libyan, Algerian and more recently medical visas is now mired in corruption, with the top political brass or those close to them involved. Following the Panama Papers we had yet another Commissioner of Police resigning his post, resulting in the installation of the Commissioner in just three years. Now we have the resignation of the chief of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit – a state agency established under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

No wonder Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption, has remarked that “Malta needs to clear its corruption mess before it heads the Council of the EU next year”.