We wish to advise that, as proud Maltese citizens, we have established a Committee entitled ‘Maltese Pride’ to circulate a petition among the Maltese residing in the states of Victoria and NSW, Australia, calling upon the Maltese government to review the ‘Citizenship for Sale’ Scheme and reach consensus.

We are extremely proud of our Maltese citizenship which we acquired as a birthright. We are dismayed by the government’s action in placing Maltese citizenship for sale on the open market and strongly object to the government lowering the status of Maltese citizenship.

We note further the concerns of the European Parliament and, in particular, the overwhelming vote in favour of the joint motion relating to the sale of citizenship of member states. Remarks made on Wednesday by various MEPs representing a range of member states severely criticising the scheme introduced by the Maltese government should be of great concern to Malta, in particular the adverse impact these may have on trade and financial services offered to other members of the EU.

We are forwarding the petition to Malta for presentation to the Maltese Parliament and trust that the government will seriously reconsider this matter and not proceed with the scheme for the sale of Maltese citizenship.

Victor G. Borg & Joseph A. Stafrace

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA