“I trust that your good-self will be better informed after reading this email”: Joseph Cuschieri’s message to all MEPs and their assistants
The prime minister has made a point of praising Labour MEP Joseph Cuschieri’s “unstinting efforts” at lobbying other MEPs to vote against the resolution this morning.
I have been sent a copy of Cuschieri’s “unstinting effort”, which I reproduce below.
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From: “CUSCHIERI Joseph”
To: “MEP & ASSISTANTS-7th-Legislature”
Subject: FACTS ABOUT THE EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP
Dear Colleague,
Tomorrow we will be discussing and voting on the matter of EU Citizenship. Unfortunately a lot of politically motivated misinformation has been doing the rounds focusing on Malta’s Individual Investor Programme. I deem this as very unfair on our government and country.
You may wish to note that other similar initiatives exist in several EU member states. However, it is only Malta that has been singled out in the resolution being tabled in the EU Parliament. As things stand today, there is no framework for the granting of citizenship by member states, and every country has adopted a programme suited for its needs.
The Maltese government will be capping the Programme to 1800 main applicants, over a period of 5 years, who will invest substantially in Malta, therefore in Europe and only following rigorous due diligence.
Hence, I trust that your good-self will be better informed after reading this email and its attachments to make a better judgement when you are expected to cast your vote on this important issue which is after all, a matter of national sovereignty.
Joseph Cuschieri, MEP
Head of Delegation S&D – Malta
European Parliament
60, rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60
Office ASP 15 G 242
B-1047 Brussels
Tel: 45919
Fax: 49919
Email: joseph.cuschieri@europarl.europa.eu
Web: www.josephcuschieri.com
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There were two attachments to his email, telling fellow MEPs about schemes in their own countries:
IIP International Comparison Chart (JAN 2014) II
Kurt Farrugia and his aides distributed these same documents in the European Parliament press room, enraging members of other delegations with the misinformation in the comparative table on ‘similar’ schemes in other member states.
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At least they can’t say that the misinformation was negative.
“…make a better judgement when you are expected to cast your vote on this important issue which is after all, a matter of national sovereignty.”
I.e. vote the way we would like you to, but at the end of the day, it’s our friggin’ business anyway.
There’s no way he wrote that himself.
His good-self wrote it.
I can’t stand the phrase ‘your good self’. It’s condescending and more often than not it’s used by someone who does not think highly of the person at the receiving end of the phrase.
And anyway, in Malta the phrase itself is becoming a cliche’. As are ‘the mind boggles’ or ‘some animals are more equal than others etc etc’.
It’s Indian English at best. Civil servants are the worst offenders, closely followed by journalists.
If he is the “head of the delegation,” makes you wonder what the body is like.
If he, is the head of the delegation, then who is the a*se hole?
I didn’t know you had Marlene old-man fantasies, Ciccio. Or is it Claudette Abela Baldacchino?
A bit of both. Best of both worlds.
Ciccio, you randy old goat.
The government’s own attachment containing the international comparison shows that with the exception of Cyprus, Malta is the only EU country which is selling immediate citizenship, full-stop.
The information is all in there:
1. The Austrian program requires active investment, and the initial cost (Eur 3 million) is more than 4 times that of Malta (Eur 650,000).
2. The other EU countries give residence permit or visa, not immediate citizenship.
3. The non-EU countries, e.g. Canada, grant residence and this only within their own country, not within a group of countries.
4. As for Cyprus, which Muscat is copying, their scheme is the result of a bail-in. Muscat is effectively admitting that he is bailing in, or bailing out, the country.
Muscat got us where he wanted – our economy is now like that of Cyprus.
Is there scope for an analysis of the misinformation in the table provided?
Ciccio is almost correct. The one thing is that Austria does NOT HAVE A PROGRAMME. It, like most countries, has the right to confer citizenship on foreigners in exceptional circumstances. In Austria there are no criteria to receive citizenship through investment. It is possible in extremely exceptional circumstances only.
Then there is Cyprus. They just went through the worst financial crises in history and need to generate income in anyway. Having said that, their program is much more onerous on applicants and it creates much more of a connection between the applicant and Cyprus then the Maltese program.
It seems also like your government does not understand the huge difference between a residence permit and citizenship. Residence in one European country does not give any rights in other country. For example Permanent residence in Bulgaria does not give one even the right to travel to another European country. While citizenship in Bulgaria does give a person the right to live and work anywhere in Europe. Huge difference.
As for Portugal Spain and Greece, using the word “similar” to describe their programs and the Maltese program is simply misleading. They are residence programs, that after six years of living in those countries could lead to citizenship( well except for Spain where it is 10 years) but in order to get citizenship in 6 years the candidate has to prove that he has very close contact with the country, and in Portugal has to even pass a language test, in Spain he has to know the constitution. Nothing similar about this.
One more, and possibly the biggest exception is that all other residence and citizenship programs are managed by government of the countries. In Malta the whole program is managed by a private company who will receive all the money from the program for up to two years.
It is amazing to me how much your political opposition was able to hold back in the EP and not mention the fact that as Henley is conflicted that the due diligence process is a joke, and that Henley will be keeping all the 650,000 Euros from each candidate for a minimum of six months up to two years, which means that Malta gets Zilch for up to two years no matter what.
I I’d like readers to know that after a quick check, I counted that once a Maltese passport is bought, the person not only gains immediate rights to all 28 EU countries, they also benefit from access to 158 other countries without a visa.
That is exactly how the scheme is being advertised.
For shame!
And the truth will set you free.
That same chart appears on a Malta Today article, “comparing” citizenship schemes. There is no mention on the article of the source of that document or that the chart was used by this MEP to defend the Maltese government line of reasoning.
Capping was originally set at 1,800 new citizenships sold. Cuschieri now refers to 1,800 MAIN applicants.
Once extra wives, multitude of children (no doubt including ‘convenience adoptees’), and sets of grandparents, that should be near to 20,000 passports sold.
And all would be entitled to benefit in Malta from free – that is funded by Maltese taxpayers – primary kindergarten to tertiary education, free healthcare, and other social benefits.
Once H &P will have taken their very substantial cut of the passport price, and the cost to taxpayers of funding the extra benefits to the new passport holders, the result is a very bad economic deal.
‘
Shouldn’t it be “suited to” rather than “suited for” or is grammar also a matter of national sovereignty?
If Joseph Cuschieri truly wanted the MEPs to be truly well-informed, why didnt he also mention that Malta’s scheme is the only one that does not require residency?
Rationing on the truth?
The I.Q. of a used tea-bag.