Malta’s ‘golden passport scheme has to stop’ – von der Leyen
Malta’s controversial passport-selling scheme has to be brought to a halt, European Commissioner President Ursula von der Leyen said in a press conference on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference at the Upper Barracca in Valletta, von der Leyen issued a scathing assessment of Malta’s Individual Investor Programme (IIP) – which she referred to as a “golden passports” scheme.
“In our bilateral we have been discussing the subject of the golden passports and that it is of utmost importance to stop that procedure because we should not forget that the golden passports potentially enable the person to have access to 27 member states in the European Union,” von der Leyen said when answering questions from the press.
It’s a huge blow for the controversial – and currently inactive – IIP scheme, which the Maltese government had hoped to restart in the near future.
It’s also not the first time that the scheme has come under the European microscope, but the Maltese government has continually insisted that the matter of citizenship is a national one, and not one where the EU should dictate what can and cannot happen.
The first round of the IIP scheme came to an end this time last year after the capping of 1,800 applicants was reached.
Amendments to the second round proposed by the government would see only individuals who first manage to obtain a Maltese residence permit will be allowed to apply for citizenship. There are two ways to do this. Individuals can apply after a oneyear residency period if they invest €750,000 or more. Applicants would have to pay €600,000 if they apply after a three-year residency period.
A joint investigation, which included the participation of The Malta Independent, titled the Passport Papers exposed how applicants of the IIP scheme used “genuine links” which were tenuous at best to prove their residency on the island, spending an average of 16 days in Malta out of their 12-month residency period.
Prime Minister Robert Abela meanwhile announced that the government will be presenting an anti-SLAPP Bill “in the coming days.”
Abela said that, since taking office in January 2020, “my administration has been in a constant and continuous process to strengthen democracy and the institutions that protect the rule of law.”
This strengthening is ongoing, Abela said. “An interesting development which we will launch in the coming days is an anti-SLAPP Bill and a number of other legislative instruments aimed at protecting journalists and media freedom.”
SLAPPs are law suits filed against journalists in other countries, making litigation extremely expensive, with the aim of crippling media houses or forcing journalists into submission.
Anti-SLAPP legislation was among several recommendations made by the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry board. After the publication of the report, the Prime Minister pledged to work on protecting journalists, and has had meetings with the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM).
Asked about the subject of media freedom, President von der Leyen said this was one of the topics she discussed with PM Abela, who informed her of his intentions on the anti-SLAPP reform.
She said that, towards the end of next month, “we will come forward with the Media Freedom Act to make sure that the independence of the media is also secured.”
Von der Leyen also said she will be visiting Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder site on Thursday afternoon to pay her respects and speak with the family.
Von der Leyen gives the green light for Malta’s €316.4 million recovery and resilience plan
Von der Leyen was in Malta to give the green light on behalf of the European Commission to Malta’s recovery and resilience plan.
At a press conference in Valletta, she said that the NextGeneration EU plan, under which this set of grants falls under, is more than a recovery plan – it is a plan to shape the decades to come through an €800 billion investment across the bloc.
“The plan clearly meets the demands,” von der Leyen said.
Prime Minister Robert Abela meanwhile said that the funds will be used to bolster Malta’s medium-term vision for an improvement in quality of life, turning the nation’s infrastructure from a bottleneck to an enabler, ensuring that the country’s educational system becomes one of the best in Europe, seeing that the country is carbon neutral by 2050, and transforming governance structures so that they adequately reflect needs and aspirations of modern society.
“Yes we took a bit longer than other to submit this plan, but we didn’t want to submit something to simply tick the boxes; we wanted to prepare our proposals carefully. We negotiated hard but fairly, and our plan was endorsed by the Commission without delay, clearly confirming the credibility of the Maltese government,” Abela said.
The Commission said that Malta’s plan devotes 54% of its total allocation to measures that support climate objectives.
Indeed, the plan will allow the granting of access to free public transport for select cohorts of the population, allow the building of a new ferry landing place in the St. Paul’s Bay and Bugibba area in an investment of €16 million, and allow the energy efficient renovation and greening of private and public buildings in an investment of €60 million.
The funds will also be used to implement the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan of the Valletta region and for reforms of waste management systems with the aim of strengthening the circular economy in Malta.
The Commission said that Malta’s plan devotes 26% of its total allocation to measures that support the digital transition.
This includes efforts to further digitalise the public administration and public services, including the healthcare and judicial systems, as well as to strengthen initiatives related to digitalisation for the private sector in an investment which will total up to an investment of €59 million.