It’s not true. I quote from the above site – “You can directly qualify for citizenship and passport by investment without any residency requirements.”

[Daphne – Tim has lived in Vienna for many years, Axel. And you are quoting a consultancy site using a spiel to attract customers, not Austrian citizenship law.]

According to Spanish legislation any foreigner legally established as a resident in Spain, can apply for Spanish nationality.The required periods of time are different according to the nationality, or other personal circumstances.

You have been a legal resident of Spain for at least 10 years: Allowed to remain a Spanish National, even if the Law that granted him the nationality changes.It means that those who have held a Spanish Nationality for a number of years, and have used it correctly and in good faith, pursuant to a Rule inscribed in the Register, are People concerned must have maintained an active attitude in the possession and use of Spanish Nationality, meaning that they have behaved considering themselves Spanish, both benefiting of their rights and doing their duty towards the Spanish State.

You are a citizen of a Latin American country: Andorra, Portugal, the Philippines, or Equatorial Guinea, or you are of Sephardic descent, and you have been a legal resident of Spain for at least two years.

You have obtained refugee status in Spain and have been a legal resident for at least five years.

You fulfill one or more of the following conditions:

You were born in Spanish territory, you have been married to a Spanish citizen for at least one year, you were born abroad to Spanish parents and/or grandparents, you did not previously exercise your right to Spanish nationality when given the option, you are a widow or widower of a Spanish citizen provided that you were not separated upon your spouse’s death, or you were a ward of the Spanish state for at least two consecutive years.
In addition, you have been a legal resident of Spain for at least one year.

Happy to clarify the situation, Daphne.

[Daphne – I think it’s the other way round, Gary, with me clarifying the situation for you. But it’s always best to let a man think it was his idea in the first place, so I’ll let it go.]

Also, another point to bear in mind is that Austria joined the EU in 1995 and the nationality law that allows the granting of discretionary citizenship is dated 1985.

So could say that any Austrian ‘scheme’ was squarely directed at allowing for Austrian citizenship only and not something that was put into place to enable someone to get a EU passport via the back door.

Listen, ordinarily I’d agree with Asimov in that a referendum is rarely the best choice.

But in this particular case, it seems to me that it’s the only chance there is of stopping the madness. Am I wrong? What other hope is there? It won’t be stopped in parliament, nor can it be stopped at EU level without far reaching negative consequences for all of us.

[Daphne – That’s not the point. The point is that you should not hold a referendum on something that is fundamentally wrong or fundamentally right: e.g. divorce legislation and selling EU citizenship for cash. These are not matters of opinion, like EU membership and abolishing spring hunting.]

Going for a referendum is a last ditch effort to restore sanity in an insane situation. That’s all. For all I know it may backfire badly, even though in all the polls I’ve seen about the scheme, disapproval ratings are the majority. But even if it does backfire, that would leave us in exactly the same position we are in today anyway.

Kenneth Zammit Tabona posted it on Facebook as well, asking “Why the fuss”

Joe Fenech, tell Asimov he nailed it and that it’s that blasted Peppi Azzopardi’s fault.

And for all those well-meaning citizens asking for a referendum: we already had one. It was a referendum in the institution directly representing and directly elected by the citizens of the union of nation-states whose passport we are selling. And that institution voted overwhelmingly against this madness. I’d say 89% is a pretty overwhelming result.

If it is wrong for us Maltese to sell something that belongs to all of our fellow European brothers and sisters – yes, by god, I’ll be sentimental – then it is also wrong to put the referendum question to ourselves only. Let us have a European-wide referendum. Then yes, that would be the right thing to do.

I just cannot keep up with all the comments on Facebook comparing Joseph Muscat’s scheme to Austria. And sometimes these comments come from people who I thought had some brains.

It is incredible how some people would repeat something without confirming its authenticity.

A significant difference to what the Maltese government is offering.

I am not sure that most Maltese are not aware of the difference between citizenship and residence permits. It is the Labour Party, its leaders and its diehard supporters who distort, or pervert, their meaning to justify the IIP.

Unfortunately, by knowing the difference the public, even in its majority, cannot remove Joseph Muscat from his post once they have put him there in the first place, and I do not believe that he is honest enough to admit his mistake and do the honourable thing, – change course or resign.