Built into Frankfurter Allgemeine’s headline : “Malta is a magnet for the Mafia”

This article was published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine, one of Germany’s most influential newspapers, last Thursday.

I reproduce it here in idiomatic translation.

SALES OF CITIZENSHIP: “MALTA IS A MAGNET FOR THE MAFIA”

The sale of citizenship to well-paying foreigners angers many Maltese. Consulting firm will examine customers for possible criminal background.

The sale of citizenship to foreigners has turned many Maltese against their government. Readers have complained in comments on the websites of the local press, saying that Malta is prostituting itself mainly for businessmen from Russia, which could make the island a magnet for the Mafia.

This will certainly affect the government. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Finance Minister Tonio Fenech (they mean Edward Scicluna) have engaged the consulting firm Henley & Partners, which brokers real estate as well as residence and citizenship for their customers, to check those customers for possible criminal backgrounds while also processing their applications.

The bill passed on the third and final reading in the Maltese parliament last Tuesday in Valletta, by 37 votes to 30, making it lawful to offer Maltese nationality to foreigners for 650,000 euros. The applicant’s wife and children under 18 will pay 25,000 euros.

Government expects up to 300 applicants a year

The law is intended to stimulate the economy and attract wealthy foreigners to the island. Prime Minister Muscat estimated that the government will take 30 million euros in the first year, selling Maltese nationality to about 45 people. He then expects 200 to 300 applications per year.

The Opposition had criticized the project – and will want to reverse it. The Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, who is of the Nationalist Party (PN ), which was replaced in the March elections after 15 years in power by the Social Democrats, spoke on Wednesday of a “black day for democracy” in Malta.

Busuttil accused the government of having bulldozed the law through parliament. The PN says it may seek a referendum to abrogate this law. Otherwise they will repeal it after the next election, Busuttil said.