ADPD - The Green Party said today that it was the only political party which consistently insisted that the ‘golden passports’ scheme was not acceptable because citizenship should not be up for sale.

In a press conference on Saturday, ADPD called for the scheme to be discontinued forthwith without waiting for this to be imposed upon us.

ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo stated that citizenship matters were the competence of  the individual Member States. But this was not an absolute right. Each Member State had an obligation, on the basis of the loyalty principle as explained in the EU treaties, not to do anything that impacts on the other Member States. EU citizenship gives free movement rights within the Schengen area – a right that no country can grant to anyone who is not entitled to it!

Many cases have been identified in the media where persons who obtained citizenship ‘by investment’ had been involved in financial crime in spite of all the supposedly careful due diligence that should have been carried out. There have also been cases of persons who could be considered as a threat to security involved in the scheme. 

Citizenship had been sold to grant freedom of movement to persons that were or could be a security risk to the EU. The report presented to the European Parliament highlights that this risk cannot be properly assessed because of a lack of transparency as well as weak vetting of the applicants. In this regard besides Malta, the report also refers to similar schemes in Cyprus and Bulgaria.

Although the Maltese government had revised the original scheme with an increased emphasis on residency, this can still lead to citizenship. So far, there has not been any feedback from the European Commission about the revised scheme.

However, the proposal being put forward to the European Parliament next month requests that such schemes are discontinued by not later than 2025. ADPD calls for the scheme to be discontinued forthwith without waiting for this to be imposed upon us.

ADPD is the only party that has consistently insisted that the ‘golden passports’ schemes are not acceptable because they attracted persons linked to financial criminality, as has in fact resulted, but also put our country in the spotlight leading to irreparable damage as in the case of the FATF grey listing. We have voiced our concerns about this since the first scheme was proposed in 2014.

It is only ADPD Members of Parliament that will ensure that the necessary changes will be carried out so that our country regains the trust as a safe haven for investment and business, concluded Cacopardo.