Online poll | Respondents divided over government’s revamped IIP

The revamped Individual Investor Programme, which will sell Maltese citizenship to non-EU nationals, has attracted mixed reactions with a slight majority expressing their opposition to the citizenship scheme.

A total of 5,298 respondents took part in the online poll by MaltaToday.

Despite the amendments to the programme which increased the scheme to €1.15 million, 2,552 respondents said nothing had changed.

The voters, marking 48%, said they disagreed with the programme as IIP citizens could still sell their property and stocks after five years.

On the other hand, 2,381 respondents - or 45% - said they agreed with the government's decision to cap the scheme to 1,800 applicants and including the property and stock elements made it better than it was.

Only 7% - or 365 - said they agreed with the IIP if naturalisation were made simpler for non-EU nationals who have lived in Malta for over five years.

According to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the IIP will make Malta leader in an area in which "other countries will certainly follow".

"The country needs to make a choice on whether to stick to the past ways of generating economic growth, or look towards the future," Muscat said. "This scheme is an example of such a shift in mentality."

Originally capped at €650,000, the sale of the Maltese passports to wealthy non-EU nationals has seen the government and the opposition in a tug of war. On its part, the opposition has insisted that it is "against the sale of Maltese citizenship in principle, while the government argues that the IIP scheme will ultimately be of benefit to Malta's coffers.

Following weeks of negotiations between the government and the opposition, the requirements of the contentious scheme were changed but the two sides could not reach an agreement, with Muscat citing the five-residency period as the main bone of contention.

The scheme's requirements changed from the previous €650,000 donation, adding a new €350,000 property acquisition and €150,000 purchase of government bonds. The scheme will no longer be exclusively led by citizenship experts Henley & Partners.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said that in order for the government and the opposition to strike a consensus on the contentious citizenship scheme, the government had to "address the Opposition's stand."

Muscat, however, placed the blame on the Opposition for not being able to accept a position of compromise.

"We (the government and the Opposition) spent a lot of time in discussion and it is clear for all to see that the government has shifted from its original proposal and made significant changes," he said.