Comments on: 183 days in Malta and you are officially a resident. But only if you plan to buy your passport.

By: Victor

Victor — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 00:32:27 +0000

In reply to zunzana. Hear, hear.

By: Victor

Victor — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 00:24:45 +0000

In reply to Weird no ?. That thought crossed my mind too.

By: Tabatha White

Tabatha White — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 14:10:08 +0000

In reply to gianni. The question should still centre around the amoral sale of citizenship.

By: zunzana

zunzana — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:56:31 +0000

Unbelievable that the EU have accepted this shameful situation. I would have thought that Commissioner Reding would not have been so compliant, especially after the overwhelming majority of votes against the selling of passports. I wonder what the other members of parliament think of this agreement.

By: mhasseb

mhasseb — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:41:29 +0000

There are hundreds of volunteers and charity workers who are Maltese but live elsewhere, working on aid projects.

They have been divested of their right to vote in Maltese elections, despite their continued connection to their country and the fact that their entire immediate family lives in Malta.

Now we have people who will barely set foot on Malta, with no relatives or friends living here, without having ever invested or generated a single job in Malta and they will get Maltese citizenship and the right to vote.

Could this really be happening? Total madness.

By: just me

just me — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 12:34:21 +0000

What worries me is that the new citizens will most probably be allowed to vote in the next election. If that happens, Labour will win again.

Had Commissioner Reding insisted on a 5-year residence obligation, this would not have happened. We would have had the next election before these foreigners became Maltese citizens.

I am surprised that the European Commission was so lenient and played into Muscat’s hands. Don’t they realise how cunning he is, and that he is routinely in bad faith?

And don’t they know that this was not in his electoral programme, that people did not vote for it, and that the majority of Maltese are against it?

There should have been a referendum.

We are now in a worse state than we were before as now it seems that Muscat has the blessing of the EU.

By: gianni

gianni — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 11:09:09 +0000

The question is whether we wre talking about normal residence or an ordinary residence. The former is about exceeding a 6 month threshold while the latter involves a much higher degree of ties with our country.

By: rjc

rjc — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:33:40 +0000

One wonders if those who marry a Maltese will now wait for five years to apply for their passport. Maybe someone would be bold enough to seek redress in court claiming discrimination.

By: M.S.

M.S. — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:30:13 +0000

I have been against this scheme from day one, for a few simple reasons.

1) It is against good and decent principles to put up for sale the citizenship of one’s country. This is something priceless and putting a price tag on it makes a person like myself, who values his nationality and citizenship, feel as if it has been made no more then a commodity or a luxury. Whether expensive or cheap it still has a price tag and its the tag that’s the insult.

2) The shame that’s being put on this nation is saddening. I feel that slowly but surely the reputation that Malta built up as a responsible nation post the Mintoff, KMB and Sant years is being tossed out like garbage.

3) If Malta was metaphorically a high performance car, then allow me to say that we have taken out the professional driver and have replaced him with an amateur.

By: AE

AE — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:12:44 +0000

In reply to gorg. Exactly. Soon, thanks to Muscat there will be programmes introduced whereby you will be able to acquire European citizenship for much, much less. This is the thin end of the wedge. That will be the end of Muscat's programme, for why get a Maltese passport if you can get European citizenship for much less? For all her tough talk Reding really keeled over quickly.