When the Financial Times picks up a story and runs with it, you can guarantee that it will gather steam and that its sources generally hold true. Just ask anyone that has been to an EU summit. EU leaders can all be seen reading the briefs and the prologue stories and everyone begins to set their agenda. The latest story that the FT has picked up is the Malta Passport for sale scheme. In one report on its global edition, the FT says that Malta’s decision to flog passports for €650,000 has “sparked security concerns amongst member states”. It also says that the scheme could lead to a suspension of visa waiver programmes by countries like the US – due to security concerns.
Great. Just great. Here we are, splashed all over the front page of one of the most influential publications in the world – and for no good reasons at all.
In its UK edition, the FT focuses on the local angle, insomuch that UK ministers are being put under pressure by both sides of the House of Commons to intervene. The FT UK says that unlike other EU residency programmes, “Malta’s IIP offers instant passport to approved applicants with no requirement to be resident in the country before hand”.
Various MEPs have also raised concerns within the plenary, but so far, the European Commission has remained tight-lipped, saying that it is a sovereign issue. As we have already said in a past leading article, this issue is one of perception. It makes us look like we are broke. We might not be, and we still have good growth and job figures, but it is all about what people think. And when people read such stories in the Financial Times, it inevitably raises eyebrows.
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna spoke of the matter within the EU last week – and the result was not pretty. It looked like someone trying to defend the indefencible. He said that it was a mistake to rush the scheme and that intake would be capped. In the meantime, the government had already back-tracked and said that it would be discussing the matter with the opposition – this after it had been pushed through parliament, lock stock and two smoking barrels. And now, we are in deadlock. While there has been perfect silence from both sides on the matter, it is clear that it is going to take a lot of tweaking and changing for any agreement to be reached.
The government knows it must get moving – there is a hole to plug in the budget (it sounded too good to be true) and the money is going to have to come from somewhere. In the meantime, the PM attended a Miami conference, organised by Henley, but a spokesman said the issue of citizenship was not discussed and that Malta as an investment destination was the topic. Well. It certainly seems that we are up the proverbial creek without a paddle. The threats of visa waivers being removed is an affront to the Maltese people. After coming out of the shadows in decades gone by, we began to enjoy our respect and freedom to travel as citizens of a trusted nation. Now, we have been shamed as a people.