On Wednesday evening, the government of Malta and the European Commission announced that a deal had been struck on the much maligned citizenship scheme.

At a press conference at Castille, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that the European Commission had endorsed the Individual Investor Programme after the government accepted to introduce a one-year residency requirement for applicants.

Before we go into the merits of what is what, the first question we have to ask is: “Was it worth it”.  From the government’s point of view, it certainly seems so. By putting in the change to include one year of residence, it has obtained the endorsement of the European Commission, which means that the scheme now has an official seal of approval.

The Commission was left satisfied that the amendment – described as “minor” by Dr Muscat when he addressed the press at the Auberge de Castile – guaranteed that those obtaining Maltese citizenship through the programme had forged genuine links to Malta.

While the government insisted that citizenship is an issue of national competence, it did give in to pressure from the European Commission – which was preparing a legal challenge – and enter talks on the programme. Some influential news sites, including the BBC, said that Malta bowed down to pressure from the EC.

But there are others who believe that the government got more than it wanted in the first place. In getting the approval of the commission, Malta has now also stated that it might increase the number of citizenships that it sells.

One also has to say that while the government had to backpedal, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has also managed another victory, he has pulled the carpet from under the feet of the Nationalist Party and its leader Simon Busuttil. The Prime Minister has also shot down the PN’s arguments about withdrawal of citizenship, by saying that it is illegal and doing so would be tantamount to creating stateless people – refugees.

 The party will be scratching its head to try and figure out how Joseph Muscat managed to turn a bad situation around in his favour and take away the very argument that the PN would have used to campaign on in the upcoming MEP election campaign.

Maybe, that was the plan all along. Could it be that the PM knew that he would meet resistance from the outset from the European Commission, and therefore pushed a harder package that he already knew he would ‘tone down’? We will probably never know. What is certain is that it is positive to see that the negative press being levelled at Malta will stop – at least for the time being.

Another issue raised by Dr Muscat was the citizenship programmes of other countries, which he has long insisted, over their objections, are very similar to Malta’s own. He said that in light of its agreement with Malta, the Commission will now call on other member states to amend their programmes. Malta insisted that what applied to it should apply to other countries, he said, “even though no MEPs complained about them.” In saying so, the Prime Minister could be inferring that Malta was used as an example, but that his government had stood its ground and emerged with a reputation of being no pushover. Matters will develop and time will tell.