At last, Austria enters the fray to stop the lies
Times of Malta reports:
Austria denies it has ever sold citizenship
Consul insists various factions are ‘misinterpreting laws’
Austria is denying ever operating a citizenship-by-investment programme, insisting that sections of the Maltese media and public officials are “misinterpreting” its laws.
“The Republic of Austria has never had such a programme and, consequently, we have never had to stop it,” Erik Dreymann, consul at the Austrian Embassy in Malta, said.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Labour ministers, parliamentary secretaries and MEPs have repeatedly insisted Austria has such a programme during interviews, press conferences and debates.
The government has cited Austria in defence of its own Individual Investor Programme, which grants outright Maltese citizenship in return for a €650,000 fee, plus an investment of €150,000 in government bonds and the purchase of property worth at least €350,000.
The only ‘programme’ Austria has is a provision in the Citizenship Act stating that citizenship can be granted to someone who has performed, and will continue to perform, “extraordinary services” to benefit the State. This provision – article 10, paragraph 6 – has been in place since 1965, about 30 years before Austria joined the EU. Since summer 2011, the procedure has been under revision so no citizenships have been granted in this way for two-and-a-half years.
(…)
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140123/local/Austria-denies-it-has-ever-sold-citizenship.503690#.UuG4PrA1gdW
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-01-23/news/eu-passport-and-visa-free-travel-to-the-us-how-the-iip-is-being-sold-3761864705/
I know of a very important multi-million Italian company operating within the textile industry which has two factories in Austria and employs 80 people there.
The owner’s son, Italian living with an Austrian woman and working in Austria, was interested in obtaining Austrian citizenship under this scheme. It proved next to impossible and he gave up immediately.
There is no Austrian ‘scheme’ – there is merely Austrian citizenship law which allows the state to confer citizenship on a purely discretionary basis to those who have contributed greatly to the development of Austria. Malta, too, has that.
Meanwhile Joseph finally let someone out of the doghouse:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140124/local/scicluna-says-his-citizenship-comments-were-twisted.503896
He will probably be sent away again.
So if the marketing was ‘crude’ (although, it is the scheme that is crude), what’s his role in all this?
On yesterday’s Times of Malta, Veronique Dalli in her column said the scheme was like Malta’s and it can be found on the Austrian website. Well I didn’t believe her and I was right to do so. Austria has NO scheme, let alone a scheme that is like Malta’s.
And if anyone had doubts, here the information is on Austria’s site:
http://www.wien.gv.at/english/administration/civilstatus/citizenship/obtain.html
I meant Austria had *no such scheme* (citizenship for sale), of course.
In their frantic efforts to justify the cash-for-passports scheme, the government and Labour-controlled media point fingers at Austria and accuse them of selling citizenship, provoking a diplomatic but firm denial.
Then the President of Malta has the nerve to go to Austria and try to persuade them to support our scheme.
Stupid.
In just 10 months they managed to make Malta’s name the laughing stock at the very top of Europe’s echelons and indeed the world.
Evarist Saliba will tell you that for an ambassador or consul to comment on the domestic affairs of the host nation, it really is the very last resort.
Up to the last century, it would be the prelude to war.
Now we have no less than three (correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve lost count) ambassadors writing in: the UK High Commissioner, the Austrian Consul, and the Irish ambassador.
Joseph Muscat could have written the manual on How To Annoy Everyone In The World While Achieving Nothing Back Home.
Diplomacy in kick-ass action, what?
“Up to the last century, it would be the prelude to war.”
They’ll no doubt find out, at the leisure of all states concerned, that the practice prevails.
Peter Mandelson, who will soon be gracing our island with his presence, had encouraged young university socialists students to “create” the truth in promoting their doctrine.
Although no member of Joseph Muscat’s administration is likely to have been present on that occasion, they seem to have heard of this advice and are following is faithfully.
Incidentally, the gentleman had to resign twice from an UK cabinet post for practising his own advice.
Labour must be feeding its elves on this lie. They must have been pointing them towards H&P’s website where the ‘Austrian scheme’ is falsely advertised.
I cannot tell you how many times this link comes up in peoples’ comments on Facebook, when they want to defend Joseph’s scheme. Needless to say that I always answer them that, that is an advert and they should read an official Austrian government site to get the real facts.
After reading this article I would say that it would be a good idea if the Austrian government looked into H&P’s advert and demand the removal of it.