The two most basic questions which nobody has yet asked Muscat and Mallia
I’m not in the business of chasing Muscat around with a microphone, and I’m afraid that if I were even remotely tempted to do that with Jabba the Hutt it would end up quite badly because he hates my guts.
It was quite amusing the other day, watching him approach from the other direction of Republic Street, clearly having spotted me and my companion, squaring his shoulders and raising his chin to march past us with dignity and aplomb and coming across instead like a Pernigotti egg that had borrowed somebody else’s limbs and fished a suit out of Tweedledum’s dustbin.
But I cannot for the life of me understand why no reporter has asked Muscat and Mallia the two most fundamental questions of all: why the Labour Party chose not to include the sale of passports in its electoral manifesto and, in view of this, whether it considers itself to have an electoral mandate to sell passports.
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How about asking some of our European partners or even our American ambassador?
I don’t think any ambassador or foreign politician is going to express an opinion before their respective governments have examined the scheme and taken an official position.
As if. Ambassadors, as a rule, will never comment on the politics of the host country.
Do you remember how Didier Destremeau was burnt in effigy by Alfred Sant’s government because he dared to suggest that, maybe, it would be in Malta’s interest to join the EU? That was, of course, before the days of intimate tête-à-têtes between ‘Varist and Rondeau.
In any case, the question of lies in the electoral manifesto is one that must be answered by the Maltese electorate alone.
One government speaker (could have been Zammit Lewis) said on television that the sale of passports is according to mandate because they “have a mandate to deliver”.
So basically, they consider themselves to have a blank cheque, an open mandate to do as they will
Yep, I heard that outrageous assertion too. What liars they are.
One can deliver pizzas, mail, even babies but surely not citizenship.
Language precision: the qualifier is missing:
… “what was in the ‘manifest’ and what was promised” are the qualifiers that have been left out of the end bit of the sentence “they have a mandate to deliver” but that are to have been implied, because that is what people were voting on the basis of.
If the implication is being trampled on, ignored, misfed or misquoted, that too is deceit.
The result of the referendum to join the EU and the subsequent election would never have permitted the NP in Government to join the African Union instead once in power, nor to go against EU directives and principles.
Robert Cutajar (PN) in Parliament this morning (05/11) was quoted to have said “din l-iskema ma kinitx imniżżla fil-programm elettorali Laburista”
Claudette Buttigieg (PN) in Parliament this evening (05/11) said “Il-Partit Laburista ma għandux mandat elettorali biex iressaq din il-liġi. L-għajta tal-kampanja elettorali “Malta tagħna lkoll” spiċċat biex il-Partit Laburista qed jarmiha għaliex qed ibigħ iċ-ċittadinanza bir-ribass.”
[Daphne – They are not journalists. And they are not asking, but stating. I am not interested in what Opposition MPs think of whether the PM has an electoral mandate or not, but in what the PM has to say about it.]
If we restrict ourselves to the EU, Malta is heading towards the same situation in Italy, where journalists are either controlled by the government, or else have to apply a huge amount of auto-censorship.
This morning’s session as reported by maltarightnow.com: http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=L-Iskema+ta%26%23267%3B-%26%23266%3Bittadinanza+diskussa+fil-Parlament&t=a&aid=99851944&cid=58
This evening’s session as reported by maltarightnow.com:
http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=Il-Parlament+ikompli+jiddiskuti+l-bejg%26%23295%3B+ta%26%23267%3B-%26%23267%3Bittadinanza&t=a&aid=99851956&cid=58
Joseph Muscat’s press conference this evening:
http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=Il-fatt+li+l-bejg%26%23295%3B+ta%26%23267%3B-%26%23266%3Bittadinanza+qed+ikun+riklamat+f%27pajji%26%23380%3Bi+b%26%23295%3Bal+Pakistan+ma+j%26%23295%3Bassibx+lil+Muscat&t=a&aid=99851953&cid=19
Can the European Union stop him from selling our citizenship, knowing that a foreigner who has bought it can easily be an EU citizen ?
I’m curious about this too – what is the EU’s position on this? Don’t they have a say after all? I am not saying they can decide outright to stop the scheme, but I think they can yield power in the form of greater requirements being imposed on potential candidates…
Home Affairs issues are usually the sole responsibility of the Member States where the EU has very limited say. That is the blight of many a problem, including human trafficking (among others).
The whole reason why Maltese passports will sell is because (due to the positive Maltese reputation that was built by the previous Government) being Maltese actually has a value.
You can even say that it is “priceless”. Yet Joseph Muscat managed to give it a price and what’s worse is that he even discounted to Lidl levels to throw Malta to the ‘docks’ for ready cash.
I can’t see why foreigners may see “being Maltese actually has a value”. Other than as a shortcut into the EU, that is.
They will be seeing the same measuring scale used by Labour. It is the way Labour sees our EU citizenship. Having never believed in it de facto, but only de jure due to electoral reasons, they do not see the true value of EU citizenship but only view it as a marketable commodity.
There’s one thing I can’t understand. On the one hand half Malta is complaining about Malta being too small to take in refugees, and on the other hand that same half seems to have no issue with the additional number of Maltese citizens through passport-buying.
Why, did you doubt that the majority is monotheistic and that their only ‘god’s’ name is ‘Money’. Everything else has been kicked to the kerb after all.
After all most admit that they stopped listening beyond the promise of reduced energy bills. ‘High value’ persons buying passports simply means persons who can pay for a passport and not investors in Malta’s economy or jobs creation.
Anyone who doubts mass oblivion should study us!
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-11-05/news/no-room-for-immigrants-unless-they-pay-up-3103752193/
The citizenship is being sold as a passport to Europe (Schengen area). Wouldn’t this means that any country of the Schengen area can ask for part of the citizenship fee as such passport sale entitles holder to said country? Couldn’t the UK govt. say “I want X% of the fee charged because the object you are selling entitles the holder free entrance to my country”.
It could be argued that I am selling a ticket which entitles the holder entrance to several places of interest but then I do not give any dues such establishments. I would be requesting that these establishments accept my tickets and give access to my patrons without reimbursing these establishments any entrance fees.
Is my argument wrong?
[Daphne – Yes, very.]
I am purposely ignoring the fact that it is not only access to said country which Malta will be selling but other rights afforded only to citizens of EU so that I do not complicate the argument.
The Labour party does not have an electoral mandate to sell passports. Being such an important issue, the only decent thing to do would be to have a referendum about it.
The EU should also not keep silent about it. Those buying a Maltese passport are actually buying a European passport. This is what they are after. If we were to be kicked out of the EU, practically nobody would be interested in buying a Maltese passport.
The EU should make its own due diligence regarding the persons interested in this scheme.
You do not need to be rich to have a Maltese passport. Any non EU country wishing to have its men running around all over Europe, may fork out the money for this purpose.
I do not know how Brussels can allow countries to sell passports with no strings attached.
Can some newspaper commission a scientific opinion poll about this scheme? The Sunday Times used to carry one on various topics nearly every other week before the election.
Had Labour included sale of passports in its manifesto, it wouldn’t have made one iota of difference to the election outcome. That’s because too many Labour voters will vote Labour no matter what.
Remember 1987? With Malta pimped by Gaddafi, and our standard of living going to the dogs, still, nearly half of the Maltese voters still wanted the services of KMB for PM for another 5 and a half more years.
Maltese citizenship has a value because the Nationalist Party had the foresight to see the benefits which would accrue should Malta be part of the EU.
The prime salesman of the concept of Maltese Citizenship, Dr. Muscat, campaigned strenuously against.