Just look at this. Is this the most excruciating ‘Malta is cheap and tacky’ headline we’ve had so far? “Sale! Additional Malta passports: EURO 25,000 for multiple EU citizenships”
Well, it was bound to happen, wasn’t it? The tone of the international press on Manuel-Louis-Joseph’s kanink plen tu sell di passport for di mani has run the gamut from disbelief to anger to outright mockery.
And now today we have our first SALE KBIR mocking headline, in eTurbo’s Global Travel Industry News. Well, that should make our friends the Labour hoteliers proud.
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eTurbo Global Travel Industry News
Sale! Additional Malta passports: EURO 25000 for multiple EU citizenships
Nov 19, 2013
Those tourists and investors that are granted EU passports in Malta can then purchase citizenship for their immediate family for just 25,000 euro ($33,600) per family member.
It was announced last week that the EU island nation Malta plans to sell EU passports for 650,000 euro each (US$875,000) as part of a law aimed at bringing cash and investment into the country.
The government had argued that the initial plan to keep the buyers’ identities secret would have brought in more money.
The Maltese government has retracted the controversial confidentiality clause in its cash-for-citizenship scheme, saying it will disclose the identities of people purchasing EU passports.
The withdrawal of the secrecy clause occurred “after listening to the people,” according to a government statement issued late Sunday.
On Sunday, the opposition queried whether or not the government would issue “secret passports” before the law is changed.
“I can assure that there will be no secret passport. There will be no abuse of this gap period,” Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech said.
However, the opposition argued that keeping the names anonymous might expose Malta to criminals and terrorists.
The plan to attract more investment to Malta was approved last week and is expected to come into effect when published as a legal notice.
It will grant those who purchase the passports the right to reside in any of the other 27 EU member states.
The country’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, said last week that the plan is expected to attract “high value” individuals from around the world who can then invest in the island. He said that 45 potential applicants would raise the country around 30 million euro.
Henley and Partners, the company that will be in charge of processing the paperwork, estimated that the deal will attract up to 300 people annually.
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http://www.eturbonews.com/39811/sale-additional-malta-passports-euro-25000-multiple-eu-citizensh
There”s one word to describe this fiasco: omnishambles.
I’m going to wait for the January sales. There might be better deals.
If the financial services industry comes crashing down, Manwel-Louis-Joseph might even be handing them out for free.
If granny and the kids survive that long. It’ll be a hard winter here in Siberia.
It will be well worth the wait.
With over 100 countries of visa-free travel, freedom of movement into 28 countries of the EU and Shengen countries, a one-time euro 650,000 charitable donation towards Malta’s social housing, tax benefits (including recent tax-rate cuts), free healthcare in Malta’s “state of the art” hospitals, access to Malta’s generous University stipends, free childcare, free travel between Malta and Gozo, free admission to Joseph Calleja’s concerts, 25% discounts on electricity bills from March 2014, and of course the warmth of a country enjoying a special relationship with China, Malta is indeed offering the best deal for discerning Russians who are looking for that special place where their hard earned cash can be pulled out from their mattress to enter the international banking system.
Seriously though, I don’t think there will be many Russian applicants. There are far cheaper ways of obtaining an EU passport for Russian citizens.
The opposition has been urging the government to tie the granting of Maltese citizenship with a real investment program, one which is spread over years, creates jobs and requires a clear attachment to the Island possibly through residency.
Well, they have to be careful even here. With its investment of Euro 200 million in Enemalta, China would still qualify for a large number of passports for its bureaucrats. At the current prices, they could actually fill the one-year quota of around 250 passports mentioned by Henley & Partners. And that’s before they propose a mega-land reclamation project later this month.
http://markanthonysammut.blogspot.com/2013/11/no-folks-secrecy-clause-is-not-yet-gone.html
In a parallel universe we’re still using the ugly Maltese Lira. Remember Agatha Barbara in shades of green, and the luzzu, bajtar tax-xewk, (note that prickly pears aren’t endemic to the Maltese Islands as many might think), u ix xemx ‘wisq sabiha’.
Click below if you get so nostalgic of the glorious 80s. Feel the vibe.
Caution, the following pictures might deprive you of any sense of art.
http://cdn.gozonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/4th_series_10_Malta_Lira.jpg
http://images.ngccoin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/WCPG/118376f.jpg
Except that they don’t need to buy them at all because third country nationals who are dependents of EU citizens have parasitic free movement rights. Another Labour hoax.
http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-d59d1469-7203-487c-af5f-c4123827c234.html
Are Christmas sales on the cards?
Thank God for small mercies. At least they call the buyers of our passports, investors and tourists.