EU citizens living in Malta should not be discriminated - AD

Alternattiva Demokratika has called for an end to the discrimination of EU residents in Malta and said the rights of EU residents living in Malta were one of its priorities for the forthcoming local council elections.

AD chairperson Michael Briguglio said that EU law grants EU citizens the same rights Maltese citizens enjoy in Malta. "These include the right to vote in local council and European parliament elections and access to public services and bank transactions. However, in some instances EU nationals living in Malta are being discriminated."

Brigulio said that the election of Alternattiva's candidates in the ten localities it is contesting would guarantee that non-Maltese are granted the same rights and be treated in the same way as Maltese nationals are. This, he said, "includes providing information to residents in different languages."

The Green Party's spokesperson on EU affairs, Arnold Cassola explained that although Malta has now been a member of the EU for eight years, "on certain issues the authorities seem to be in a time warp, stuck to practices which were considered normal 20 years ago."

On the right to vote in the European parliament elections Cassola said that the electoral commission does not always respect its obligation of asking EU nationals whether they intend to vote in Malta or in their native country.

He mentioned a number of instances were EU nationals are being discriminated against and treated differently from Maltese nationals, including the requirement to pay deposits for the provision of telephony and internet services and the validity of the European health insurance cards.

Cassola described that whilst Maltese nationals are granted health insurance cards which are valid for three years, Maltese identity card holding EU nationals are only granted cards which are valid for one year.

"Additionally, local banks impose discriminatory terms and condition s on non-Maltese EU residents as unlike Maltese nationals they are asked to guarantee a positive bank balance when applying for credit cards," Cassola said.

Meanwhile the AD candidate for the St Julian's local council, Yvonne Arqueros Ebejer explained that female EU residents living in Malta are suffering from "double discrimination."  She explained that female EU nationals who apply for a Maltese identity card are being asked to produce a copy of their marriage or divorce certificates, whilst male EU nationals are not. "This violates the EU charter of fundamental rights and this farcical discrimination should end," Arqueros Ebejer said.