NGO Repubblika has welcomed a decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which ruled that Malta’s golden passport scheme has been found to be in violation of European Union law, and called for the immediate termination of the infamous scheme.
In a statement on Tuesday, Repubblika referred to the ECJ ruling on Tuesday morning, saying that Malta’s golden passport scheme amounts to “the commercialisation of the granting of the nationality of a member state and by extension that of union citizenship.”
The ECJ therefore ruled that Malta had failed to fulfil its Treaty of the EU obligations.
Repubblika welcomed the ECJ decision which confirmed what it has always said: that the sale of Maltese citizenship is wrong and illegal.
“As we have repeatedly stated, and as the Court affirmed today, citizenship represents the bond between citizens and their country, and since Maltese citizenship is also European, it represents our solidarity with all other Europeans,” Repubblika said.
It said that the sale of Maltese citizenship over the past 10 years has presented Malta to the world as a country that only sees money and values nothing else in citizenship except the profit it can make from it.
“This is not the belief of those who love their country and embrace democratic values. This Court decision is not a loss for Malta. It is a loss for the government that introduced and maintained this measure and ignored our reasoned protests and those of many others in Malta and abroad,” Repubblika said.
The NGO called for the immediate termination of this infamous scheme.
“We also call for a review of every citizenship granted under this scheme. The loyalty and belonging of these so-called Maltese who bought their citizenship should be evaluated, and those who have never set foot on our land since we gave them our passport should have their Maltese citizenship revoked,” Repubblika said.
It reiterated its appeal that every person born in Malta should be recognised as a citizen of the country.
“Finally, we appeal for constitutional amendments following effective consultation so that, as in the past, our Constitution clearly and irrevocably defines what it means to be a Maltese citizen,” Repubblika said.
It said that the pact between citizens and the state should be re-established, and the values of belonging, solidarity, and coexistence - values which Repubblika said the government wanted people to forget and traded away for thirty pieces of silver -should be renewed.
Repubblika referred to “the vile comments made by Prime Minister Robert Abela, who yesterday anticipated this decision and said that charitable organisations which received money from the passport sale would now suffer because of it.”
“The government has ethical and social obligations to safeguard everyone’s welfare, particularly those who suffer most. As long as government delegates responsibilities that are truly its own to volunteers, it remains its duty to ensure that public services continue to be well funded,” Repubblika said.
It said that “that is why we have a welfare state, to ensure solidarity among us, that those who have more contribute to support those who have less. We therefore remind the government that it is its duty not to punish those in need just because it can no longer profit from an illegal and immoral activity.”