Reding: 12 month residence for IIP must be ‘effective’

Malta has addressed concerns raised by the European Commission on its citizenship sale by introducing the requirement of a ‘genuine link’ with the country through “an effective residence requirement” of at least 12 months, as a pre-condition for obtaining citizenship, the EC said.

The European Commission now expects member states like Malta to use “their prerogative to award nationality in the spirit of sincere cooperation” with other EU countries, vice-president Viviane Reding told an MEP in reply to a parliamentary question on the trade of EU passports.

In a reference to the European Parliament debate on Malta’s Individual Investor Programme, which sells passports at the price of €650,000, Reding once again said that member states should give account to their obligations under international law and the criteria upon which they “traditionally” build their nationality laws.

“By introducing the requirement of a ‘genuine link’ with the country through an effective residence requirement of at least 12 months as a pre-condition for obtaining citizenship, the Maltese authorities addressed the concerns raised by the Commission in the spirit of sincere cooperation. The Commission expects that the amended citizenship scheme is now effectively implemented on the ground.”

The Opposition in Malta still believes the latest legal notice implementing the IIP does not effectively demand that an applicant is physically present in Malta for 12 months before they are eligible for naturalisation under the IIP.

The European Commission is now analysing similar schemes in all member states concerned in order to see if any further action is required, to make sure that the minimum requirement of a ‘genuine link’ to the country is met.

According to case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU, it is for each member states to lay down the conditions for acquisition and loss of nationality, with due regard to EU law. Since the Treaty of Maastricht, granting member state nationality also means granting EU citizenship and other additional rights.

Reding once again said that naturalisation decisions by a member state “are not neutral with regard to other Member States and the EU.”