"The Opposition is celebrating the damage caused to you," Robert Abela told the crowd gathered for his Workers' Day mass meeting. Opposition members, Abela 'revealed', were "rubbing their hands in glee" at the European court's decision that Labour's golden passport scheme violates EU law. "Their egos only allow them to think about their own careers," Abela stated. He accused "others" of "sowing hatred".

Why is Abela always so angry? He's accusing the Opposition of malign intentions, immoral nefarious actions, and despicable sadism.

The only nefarious action here is Labour's sale of citizenship. It's the blatant abuse of our EU membership to make money.  It's letting ultra-wealthy individuals, some of them potentially dangerous, into EU countries with all the rights afforded to any EU citizen.

Labour wasn't just selling our citizenship.  It's selling EU citizenship. As the European commission pointed out, that's not for sale. The European court nailed it - "the program was nothing short of the commercialisation of citizenship". It condemned Malta's scheme for violating "good faith" and "mutual trust" between EU member countries and "infringed EU law".

Those passport buyers had no real link to the country. Giving a small donation to Michelle Muscat's Marigold foundation and renting out an apartment hardly constitutes a genuine link to Malta.

Everybody knows that the dodgy Joseph Muscat spotted an easy buck and pounced.  Of course, Malta wants to prosper but do we have to betray the trust of our European allies and endanger European security to do so?

No matter the magnitude of benefits derived from that scheme, nothing can justify abuse and illegality.  Because the Mafia distributes food to Italy's struggling residents, its criminal activities aren't any less despicable.  When the Camorra organised home delivery of food parcels, the criminal organisation's guilt over its many gruesome murders wasn't absolved.

Labour's argument is that since Malta made so much money by abusing European membership, then that passport-selling scheme must be wholesome. Even Puttinu Cares benefitted, even common citizens profited during COVID, Robert Abela argued, so defrauding our European allies is fully justified.

The morally depraved aren't those who recognise and admit that selling EU citizenship is wrong, no matter how many billions we make, but those calling others vile vicious traitors simply for speaking the honest truth.

When Abela insists that Malta's passport scheme has a robust due diligence process, remember the damage to our country when the Financial Times reports that "Maltese golden passports were sold to Russians with Ukraine war links".

Russian businessman Albert Avdolyan can partially circumvent the EU's travel ban thanks to his Maltese passport.  He is just one of 7 people to whom Labour sold a Maltese passport hit by EU sanctions over Russia's war in Ukraine. They are part of a group of 16 people who bought a Maltese passport despite being politically exposed persons who appeared on sanctions lists or were convicted of crimes.

Evgeniya Vladimirovna Bernova, a Maltese passport buyer, stands accused of "deceptively acquiring dual-use equipment that could be used for military purposes on behalf of Russia".  She allegedly "facilitated the export of equipment ... to intended government end-users in Russia" by a Malta-based company she operated.

Avdolyan can still travel to Malta despite being "closely associated" with Russian state weapons giant Rostec.  Avdolyan only spent two weeks in Malta but Identity Malta said that "in principle" he had fulfilled the requirements of 12 months' residency.

While Abela brags that he wants peace not war, he sold passports to Russians who later helped sustain Russia's war crimes in Ukraine.

When the Financial Times contacted Abela's government, Abela didn't respond.  If Abela's so convinced his passport scheme is so clean and safe why is he so afraid of rebutting those serious FT allegations?

That is what truly harms our country.  It's when our own government doesn't even bother to defend it.  Abela is constantly addressing meetings or preaching on the radio but didn't have the nerve to confront the Financial Times.

Abela accused others of "campaigning against our country" but when given the chance to defend Malta he chickened out. No amount of money derived from criminal schemes will restore our reputation.  Abela accused others of "causing as much damage as possible". But he's really the one responsible for the incalculable damage.  The Financial Times has slightly more following than Kulhadd or ONE news.

Instead of protecting the country's reputation, protecting potential future direct foreign investment, Abela spent his time disparaging the opposition and making false accusations at his May Day parade.

Between issuing statements denying his alleged involvement in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and pleading with the courts to be allowed to pay 187,000 euro in outstanding bills, the disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat found time to defend the scheme he first introduced. And of course to heap scorn and vitriol on Roberta Metsola and the Opposition for "working against the country". That takes some brass neck from the man who personally engineered Vitals-Steward, Electrogas and the Mozura windfarm.

But then nobody's surprised.  If your first priority as soon as you're appointed Prime Minister is to rent your private car to the state to make €7,000 a year it's clear where your priorities lie.  If the first thing you do after stepping down is to accompany Armin Ernst to ensure that Steward gets a better deal your standards are surely suspect.

His chosen successor retains the same standards. If you're not really fussed about the provenance of the huge wealth of the young Chris Borg, as long as you make 45,000 euro off a dodgy deal, you're hardly going to worry about making billions from selling passports.  If you have no qualms about claiming €80,000 euro  in overtime when you're already paid €17,000 per month by the Planning authority, it's clear what drives you.  If you have no pangs of conscience when you acquire a sprawling Zejtun property riddled with illegalities for peanuts just days after those illegalities were sanctioned and then renting the uninhabitable property to prospective Russian passport buyers, selling passports to Russian warmongers is hardly going to worry you.

Ultimately the controversy over passport sales is a moral one. In one camp are those who couldn't care less how to make money as long as we make it, preferably sackloads of it. In the other camp are those who feel that abusing our allies' trust and prostituting our passport is not only indecent but in the long-term strategically damaging to Malta's interests.