PN wants government to amend investment citizenship programme

The Nationalist Party has urged government to suspend Malta’s current golden passport scheme and fully accept today’s European Court of Justice ruling on the matter.

According to the PN, citizenship “is more than just a legal status with a price tag” as it took note of the ruling.

After fully opposing the scheme in the early years of the PL administration in 2013, the PN changed its stance and pledged to amend the programme instead of scrapping it completely.

In light of the ruling, the PN called on government to suspend the programme in its current form, present a plan to ensure Maltese law complies with the European Court’s decision, and clearly acknowledge and accept the ruling in order to safeguard Malta’s reputation at EU level.

The PN added that government should also refrain from continuing what it described as a misinformation campaign regarding the scheme. 

“The only harm done to our country’s reputation through this judgement was caused by the Labour Government’s own scheme of selling citizenship, nothing else.”

A future Nationalist government, the party, would implement reforms to ensure that Maltese citizenship is granted only where there is a clear and genuine connection to Malta.

The statement was signed by Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Darren Carabott.

Roberta Metsola blasts "short-termism"

In her reaction to the European Court of Justice ruling, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said Malta’s sale of passports confirmed what many have been warning about.

“For the best part of the last decade, we have warned that selling Maltese passports and EU citizenship to third country nationals without any genuine link violates EU law,” she added.

Metsola called the scheme “legal and economic recklessness” that hurt Malta’s security and reputation, and exposed what she described as “the weakest Prime Minister Malta has ever known”.