Does this sound like somebody who thinks his sale-of-citizenship scheme is a mistake? No, it doesn’t.
It sounds like somebody who has invited the Opposition to the negotiating table, after the deed has been done and voted into law, so that he can blame them for the collapse of negotiations due to their hard-headedness and failure to reach a compromise, as a result of which he is going to have no choice but to go ahead with the law exactly as he wanted it and voted for it.
And take note of the fact that, like his dead rancid predecessor but two at the helm of his corrupt party, he tells his brain-dead followers that harsh criticism in the international press is the work of the evil enemies of the Labour Party.
Damn shame they can’t all rush out and set fire to the Boulder Evening Advertiser in Colorado, then.
The prime minister, quoted by Times of Malta this morning:
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning admitted that the government could have handled the citizenship programme better but insisted that the scheme, which the government believed in, would attract major talent to Malta.
Speaking during an interview on One Radio this morning, Dr Muscat said that although Parliament had approved the changes to the Citizenship Act for the programme to be introduced, the government still went into discussions with the Opposition because it was not arrogant and was willing to listen.
Dr Muscat said that he believed that an agreement between the two sides could be reached if good will was shown by all and both parties shouldered their responsibilities.
He said it was not acceptable to him, however, for politicians to taint Malta’s image in the foreign media.
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“He said it was not acceptable to him, however, for politicians to taint Malta’s image in the foreign media.”
So I take it he’s resigning?
Absolutely not. It means “Let us rein in the media.”
I take it he is asking Scicluna to resign?
Yes, he will be resigning, or should I say seeking re-election as hypocritical eurosceptic MEP, in 4 years and 3 months.
What a muppet. I look forward to his nationalistic rants to a parliament full of incredulous socialists scratching their heads at how the PL got into the Socialist grouping in the EP in the first place.
He will never resign. He is worse than Mintoff was. In as little as 9 months he has managed to screw everything up. He is incompetent, unreliable, and selfish – he thinks only of himself.
I don’t have my passport framed and hung on the wall with a red candle burning underneath it, and I certainly don’t view it as my right to feel superior in any way. However, it is a document that carries a lot of importance and a reputation that has been built and thoroughly checked over the past 25 years, and allows me the freedom of movement that I have around Europe and the luxury of being part of the visa waiver program in the US.
That reputation is only as solid as the country’s government, and can easily be ruined by any foolish move made by the country’s politicians. Like this citizenship scheme.
When I heard about it, I didn’t rush to my passport and bawl my eyes out, lamenting its loss of sentimental value. I worried because of the reputation my passport was going to have from now on. That reputation is the only card a Maltese citizen has to play, and it relies on the competence of our politicians, which right now have looked at its reputation and foolishly thought that they can do what they like with it.
When I heard about the citizenship scheme, I knew that my passport was going to be treated as a commodity, and was going to be sold as a commodity. The marketing of commodities is always executed to make that commodity cheap and easy to buy. No company is going to make it hard to buy its products, and the same can be said for our passports. So the first thing that flashed before my eyes, and what was later flashing across my computer screen, was the way in which it was going to be sold.
Like a Macdonald’s new burger, or some new low cost airline, the good news was announced to the rest of the world, what a great offer, and easy to get, and don’t worry too much about the due diligence because it’s just a suggestion to the Minister, all secret and there are loopholes too.
No one holds their passport all that close to their heart. At best, we all keep it in some file, or somewhere in our room until the day we need it and we spend an hour fretting and trying our best to remember where we put it. But it’s that passport’s reputation that we have taken for granted for so long now, that is the source of our confidence when we travel abroad- it means we get healthcare when we go to Europe, and don’t have to worry about visas when visiting the US, among other privileges that past Maltese governments have worked very hard to secure for us after proving that we are a safe and democratic country, which was by no means a mean feat considering the reputation we got from Mintoff.
The rest of the world has the same attitude towards their passport, which is why the scheme was met with such shock, and why headlines took the slant they did: Malta as a whore/pimp, a new form of human trafficking, they want the rich but not the poor immigrants from war torn countries fighting for their lives, Malta is bankrupt.- Those last two were the worst of all.
Yes, all these things raced through my mind when I heard about the citizenship scheme, which is why I was and am so much against it.
However, the PL wasn’t, and its supporters accused me and others like me of having an old fashioned view of citizenship, that it’s about time we rejected old fashion Nationalistic attitudes and called us all right wing. Could these people not see what was about to happen? Do we have to spell out even the starting point of our objection or do they just not care?
My guess is the latter. It is impossible to discuss politics in Malta for one simple reason: half the population do not think, behave or view anything within an ethical or moral framework. The Labour party can never be discussed with any value system in mind because then they will have to admit that Mintoff was a bad person who made very bad choices when smarter and more peaceful options were available to him. You cannot argue against this citizenship scheme for the same reasons: they don’t actually care.
I think the reason for why they don’t care is because caring means they have to work within a moral framework which means having limits, and limits mean not being able to do whatever you like or be opportunistic. Muscat once said in an interview that he doesn’t like tradition when tradition gets in the way of progress. I believe that he has a very different definition of tradition, one that means anything that people do or don’t do because of some unwritten value that exists. Things like honour, integrity and discernment get in the way, and you are a fool to abide by such values because it means you will miss out.
In fact, the reason why so many discussions about politics in Malta always end in an aggressive attack is because PN supporters argue from within a moral framework that is discarded by the PL. (Seriously guys, you will never be able to have a fruitful conversation with these people because they don’t even agree on the basics.) That’s why so many statements made by them and PL members feel like they are undercutting you, or derailing the conversation: they don’t value anything.
If we want democracy to work in Malta we have to first establish this moral framework. To do so would mean that the PL has to admit its lack of one over the past 40 odd years, and step up and admit that its party has not been behaving honorably at all. Once this foundation has been properly and formally established, we can move on. But who is going to do that? The politicians should, but the people should too.
Very well said!
Edward, that’s a very insightful post. This debate on the sale of citizenship scheme has brought the problem to the fore. If someone thinks that there’s nothing wrong with the scheme, then his value concepts are totally different from yours. Although you are talking the same language – right vs. wrong and proper vs. improper – the debate will degenerate into interminable disagreement since there is no shared frame of reference.
The Government decided to try to patch up the scheme not because it is the right thing to do but because of the tsunami of bad press and the outrage shown by our European partners. I was, initially, extremely surprised that they didn’t see it coming when it was obvious to anyone who shares the same set of values that the reaction was inevitable. But your post explains it all – they simply don’t share the same set of values.
Good comment. Can’t agree more about the impossibility of arguing with Lejber supporters. They can’t even see the inconsistency in fighting tooth and nail for Integration and when that ‘battle’ is lost you opt for Independence.
They just “know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Totally amoral, which leads them to accept immoral behaviour.
PL = Partit tal-Lanzit.
Prosit Edward. Couldn’t agree with you more.
Summing up: This country is not bankrupt but its government is morally bankrupt.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in this unpredictable government thinks of re-introducing the law “kontra l-Indhil barrani”.
How many countries has he travelled to, to push his sales of Maltese citizenship? And now he is blaming other politicians for tainting Malta’s image in the foreign media?
The Prime Minister is quoted above as saying “it was not acceptable to him, however, for politicians to taint Malta’s image in the foreign media.”
Dear Prime Minister, it is particularly because everyone agrees that politicians should not taint Malta’s image in the foreign media that people are so against the sale of Malta’s passports under the scheme you have dreamt up. It is YOU that has tainted Malta’s hard earned image in the foreign media.
Probably Muscat thinks that lying is face-saving? About time he grows up.
Muscat: “attract major talent to Malta”
Scicluna: “in Malta there is an …. errrrm …. you know ….. shortage of people ‘of calibre'” (or something to that effect).
Who is who’s stooge?
The international media do not need to be fed by the Nationalist Party in Malta. They did not need it in Mintoff’s time and they do not need it now. They find their own news.
That is why the correspondents of prestigious newspapers, even The Times (London) were banned from Malta and why the Foreign Interference Act was enacted by the Labour government.
Provided of course that Joseph Muscat was not referring to his own Finance Minister when he mentioned “politicians who taint Malta’s image” abroad.
The Opposition should not have engaged in discussions with this compulsive liar and bully.
The only proper thing the Opposition should have done was to ask, before any discussion taking place, to go back to Parliament, abrogate the law and start over.
This law was conceived in secrecy, behind the people’s back, not included in the PL electoral manifesto because they knew it would have cost them precious switchers’ votes, and it was probably conceived while Dr. Muscat, then leader of the Opposition, went to bed with China for cash.
This fact seems to have escaped the mind of the general public and of the Opposition. The way it was conceived and planned should have been enough for the Opposition to take a different stand.
I agree.
According to this morning’s TVM news, Joseph Muscat said that agreement with the Opposition on the infamous (my words) Citizenship Scheme, is very close, while, on the other hand, Simon Busuttil yesterday stated that the two sides are miles apart.
Clearly one of them is not saying the truth but no prizes will be awarded to whoever guesses which one.
The PL is in a fix of its own making The PN has to stay clear from any compromise agreement and should stick to the total implementing of the amendments which they moved in Parliament, which were savagely attacked by Labour and shot down unceremoniously.
Busuttil knows that the PN’s position is the opinion of most of the country and is under no pressure to rush this bill, as Muscat is. Let them fry in their own stew, composed of ignorance, arrogance and chicken-brain politics.
The PM is misleading the country, suggesting that his party is close to reaching an agreement, so that later he can say that it was the PN which did not reach the consensus.
The PM should say in public what concessions he is willing to make.
The Malta Today survey is still showing general public opposition to his scheme.
It’s also not acceptable to us Mr Prime Minister – but you’re tainting Malta’s image pretty regularly in the foreign media.
There is no need to hear Joseph Muscat but you can read his lips.
Tghid ghaliex ghalihom din hija news value?
http://www.inewsmalta.com/dart/20131208-il-ke-tispjega-kif-pajji-jista-jo-ro-mill-unjoni-ewropea
And the most arrogant part was where he blamed the opposition for harming Malta’s image.
It’s emotional black-mailing for idiots.
You’re perfectly right, Daphne. The Opposition must be very careful. It should have insisted that the matter be debated publicly, in Parliament. These ‘secret’ negotiations can only benefit the government.
Agreed, Muscat cannot afford to be seen adopting the Opposition’s conditions. And he’ll do everything to avoid that.
The PN cannot let him abuse or ignore parliament to save his image. More so when image is all he has.
“He said it was not acceptable to him, however, for politicians to taint Malta’s image in the foreign media.”
I agree.
Resign.
The PN should be insisting on one things: for this scheme to be scrapped and for it to be replaced by a fast-track visa scheme.
“he tells his brain-dead followers that harsh criticism in the international press is the work of the evil enemies of the Labour Party.”
That is a mantra one comes across in countries where dictatorship and ‘cult of personality’ are the order of the day. Muscat should pack his bags and secure a future in North Korea, China, Thailand or some remote ex-Soviet state.
Is anyone here still believing, maybe hoping, that the government wishes to achieve consensus with the opposition about the Citizenship for Sale scheme?
Stop deluding yourselves.
The prime minister is merely buying time to change public opinion. He knows that the scheme was rushed, so there was no time for his party and government to communicate with the public about it. Not that they wanted to, but now they can disseminate propaganda like “It’s either the IIP or more taxes. The PN want more taxes.”
The truth is, of course, that there is a better way to attract investment through citizenship.
The prime minister knows that if he goes for a referendum, this will be held in June next year. He will use the (usustainable) 25% reduction in electricity bills as part of the referendum campaign – come March, expect those billboards to reappear on the streets again. By confusing the issues, Joseph Muscat hopes to have it his way.
“Malta had announced that it intended to grant citizenship to 200 to 300 people each year. This would have raised 195 million Euros for the Maltese government which, like many other EU governments, is very short of money at the moment.”
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-12-06/malta-delays-plan-to-sell-eu-citizenship
Joseph Muscat said that they could have handled the citizenship scheme better, and Norman Vella’s case better.
What can Muscat, his bloated Cabinet and the Police Commissioner handle? Nuxxelina’s phone calls for the ferry?
It’s Labour’s famous hindsight. They always eventually admit that they could have handled the EU and referendum, CET, Norman Vella, the citizenship scheme. It goes on and on.
Malta would be a happier place if it was just PN and AD, and any other independent who thinks they can handle the job.
The Individual Investor Programme is the Labour government’s biggest faux pas to date, and is hardly over yet.
It is indeed a blunder of titanic magnitude causing acute embarrassment to the better elements within the Administration especially in serious international fora such as was recently experienced by our pitiful Finance Minister.
The Prime Minister is well and truly cornered and has no choice but to look to the Opposition for the desperately required lifesaver. He is well and truly helpless and I cannot see him push ahead against a tsunami of international criticism and ridicule.
If Joseph Muscat is against any politician tainting Malta’s image in the foreign media, he should RESIGN immediately, because he has done nothing but that in the past nine months.
Tuesday 7.30am 10th Dec: Times of Malta alleges that govt and opposition talks on passports for cash scheme have been on hold for the past two weeks. The Prime Minister`s words are deceitful and manipulative and indicative of his `cunning plan` (even Baldrick must be bored with this by now)
Malta passport sale puts UK under pressure
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7de0a9fe-60fe-11e3-b7f1-00144feabdc0.html
Passport for sale’ plan raises concern among EU members
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b8a2adfa-6106-11e3-b7f1-00144feabdc0.html
IF AS YOU SAY HIS FOLLOWERS ARE BRAIN-DEAD, THEN IT SAYS A LOT ABOUT US THE DEFEATED.
[Daphne – What does it say, Janet, other than that people who vote Nationalist tend to be – and the point is ever proved – more intelligent, perceptive and insightful than people who vote Labour? The perception is borne out not by the outcome of their choices alone, but by listening to any Labour supporter argue any case. Logic all over the shop and emotions running high.]