Saturday, November 16, 2013, 00:01 by
Ann Fenech
Our nationality ‘on sale’
Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi
In a matter of a few short weeks, the Government presented and passed a Bill in Parliament enabling it to literally sell Maltese passports, not even to the highest bidder, but for a measly €650,000 and €25,000 for wives and children and so many other relations – the list is endless.
It is outrageous and because the Labour Party in Opposition knew that the majority of the population would find it outrageous it kept it under wraps throughout its electoral campaign.
Did we know that if Labour were elected they would start to sell the epitome of our statehood - our passports - like cheesecakes? No, of course, not!
So Labour in government sprung it upon its unsuspecting citizens half expecting us all to take it in our stride as though it is the most normal thing for a government to do.
No it is not. Not unless you live in a banana republic in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, that is. And the Maltese people 10 years ago decided that they did not wish to be compared to, live like or emulate the nationals of St Kitts and Nevis. They wanted instead to confirm their European roots and become full members of the European Union.
Over the past 25 years, we have all worked like dogs to build a pristine reputation in the international arena. It is because of all this hard work that the world has grown to respect us for being this tiny island nation, which, despite our microscopic size, has developed one sector after another providing employment and, therefore, wealth for its people.
Be it financial services, the maritime sector, aviation, information technology, electronics or the pharmaceutical sector we have become associated with them through sheer hard work and determination and solid laws maintaining very high standards and have gained the respect of our international peers who have come to Malta and made it their base precisely because of our high, European standards.
This level of respect takes years to build and seconds to destroy! And, now, we risk all of that because our government, apparently incapable of generating wealth by developing economic sectors like its predecessor, has decided to make a quick buck by selling our passports exactly like the banana republics in the Caribbean. This is why this pathetic scheme will have a negative effect on Malta’s reputation because it is only Third World countries that sell their nationality in this manner.
This has nothing to do with being a Nationalist or a Labour supporter. It is all to do with the fact that Joe Public of this nation, who has worked very hard to get it where it is, who is proud to be Maltese, finds it unacceptable and insulting that we have a government that has concocted this scam and attempts to excuse this ploy by saying that “other countries in Europe have the same scheme”. There is no other country in Europe that has sold its passports in this manner so the Prime Minister should not insult our intelligence.
If it were not so serious, the entire matter could be an episode out of Blackadder.
You can just see Baldrick, faced with a destitute Blackadder before him, saying: “My lord ,do not fret, I have a cunning plan. Why don’t we sell our passports!”
What was equally disconcerting was the Prime Minister announcing the scheme by declaring that this was “modern” economics and through this he was going to take Malta out of its previous “prehistoric” ways of conducting business.
And the sad thing about all of this is that, notwithstanding the fact that this scam is clearly a no brainer, even if one only has a modicum of respect for one’s own country, the Government thinks that it’s a brilliant idea.
It thinks it is a brilliant idea to prostitute oneself and one’s nation for a dime. It thinks it’s a brilliant idea to grant citizenship to anyone who would have passed the due diligence test set by the same people who will have the exclusive task of finding the persons who wish to purchase Maltese nationality in the first place -not because they have come to Malta, lived in Malta, have made Malta their home and have sent their children to Maltese schools; not because they have come here with their businesses, develop them here, employ people and contribute to our economy and be proud to be part of Malta and the Maltese. Oh no, nothing so complex. It is sufficient if they never set foot here as long as they give the Government a cheque for €650,000 purely because they wish to get into Europe and the United States totally unfettered and are unable to do so on the strength of their own native passport.
The icing on the cake: we will have no idea who these persons are. The very idea of having a number of foreign persons who have purchased a Maltese passport and whose identity would remain a secret is hideous and downright creepy.
Why, I would like to ask, should anyone, unless they have something to hide, be attracted by the fact that applicants and grantees will remain anonymous? And why should we be giving our nationality to someone who has something to hide?
I just wonder what the US Department of Homeland Security will have to say about that and whether the visa waiver programme which the previous government worked so hard to get will remain? After all, if an undesirable gets through the Henley & Partner’s due diligence (and they will be earning a commission depending on the amount of passports they sell and not on the amount they turn away) that same undesirable can be winging his way to the United States on the back of a Maltese passport in no time at all.
Is this what the people of this country deserve?
The people wish to know why the Government has decided to keep this list secret. The people wish to know who will be hiding behind this anonymity. The people wish to know why this law, which gives away for a song our nationality, which our fathers and forefathers have worked so hard for, was rushed through Parliament without a single member of the government benches questioning this entire stinking affair as though no one had the slightest say because it had to get done quickly come what may.
Anybody would think that it had suddenly become payback time for someone to whom the Government was indebted to. No doubt, the Government will retort that this is scaremongering. Well, perhaps it could allay all our fears then by answering our questions. In the meantime and until it does so, the whole thing stinks.
Another bizarre thing about this entire matter is that the Government, like every government before it, had a golden opportunity of inviting the Opposition to create a structure that made sense. Both sides of the House could have worked together on a structure that would have brought the Opposition to work with the Government. It would have been a coup for the Government. So why did the Government not follow this path?
It seems as though the reasons behind the rush, behind the closed list, behind the insignificant price must have been so compelling that the Government had to go down that route rather than what ought to have been the preferable and easier option of drafting a structure that would have got the approval of both sides of the House of Representatives and avoid irking the majority of the population.
It must have been a very compelling reason indeed and sooner or later we will find out.
This is not an individual investment programme. This is the cold and calculating unashamed sale of our citizenship for cash to an anonymous list of persons as though it were a sack of potatoes.
It is demeaning, insulting and shameful to us as a nation
Each and every Labour MP should be ashamed of himself for allowing this to happen. So much for electing a party using ‘transparency’ as one of its clarion calls. How very ironic.
Ann Fenech is president of the PN executive committee.
It is outrageous and because the Labour Party in Opposition knew that the majority of the population would find it outrageous it kept it under wraps throughout its electoral campaign.
Did we know that if Labour were elected they would start to sell the epitome of our statehood - our passports - like cheesecakes? No, of course, not!
So Labour in government sprung it upon its unsuspecting citizens half expecting us all to take it in our stride as though it is the most normal thing for a government to do.
We are selling our citizenship as though it were a sack of potatoes
Over the past 25 years, we have all worked like dogs to build a pristine reputation in the international arena. It is because of all this hard work that the world has grown to respect us for being this tiny island nation, which, despite our microscopic size, has developed one sector after another providing employment and, therefore, wealth for its people.
Be it financial services, the maritime sector, aviation, information technology, electronics or the pharmaceutical sector we have become associated with them through sheer hard work and determination and solid laws maintaining very high standards and have gained the respect of our international peers who have come to Malta and made it their base precisely because of our high, European standards.
This level of respect takes years to build and seconds to destroy! And, now, we risk all of that because our government, apparently incapable of generating wealth by developing economic sectors like its predecessor, has decided to make a quick buck by selling our passports exactly like the banana republics in the Caribbean. This is why this pathetic scheme will have a negative effect on Malta’s reputation because it is only Third World countries that sell their nationality in this manner.
This has nothing to do with being a Nationalist or a Labour supporter. It is all to do with the fact that Joe Public of this nation, who has worked very hard to get it where it is, who is proud to be Maltese, finds it unacceptable and insulting that we have a government that has concocted this scam and attempts to excuse this ploy by saying that “other countries in Europe have the same scheme”. There is no other country in Europe that has sold its passports in this manner so the Prime Minister should not insult our intelligence.
If it were not so serious, the entire matter could be an episode out of Blackadder.
You can just see Baldrick, faced with a destitute Blackadder before him, saying: “My lord ,do not fret, I have a cunning plan. Why don’t we sell our passports!”
What was equally disconcerting was the Prime Minister announcing the scheme by declaring that this was “modern” economics and through this he was going to take Malta out of its previous “prehistoric” ways of conducting business.
And the sad thing about all of this is that, notwithstanding the fact that this scam is clearly a no brainer, even if one only has a modicum of respect for one’s own country, the Government thinks that it’s a brilliant idea.
It thinks it is a brilliant idea to prostitute oneself and one’s nation for a dime. It thinks it’s a brilliant idea to grant citizenship to anyone who would have passed the due diligence test set by the same people who will have the exclusive task of finding the persons who wish to purchase Maltese nationality in the first place -not because they have come to Malta, lived in Malta, have made Malta their home and have sent their children to Maltese schools; not because they have come here with their businesses, develop them here, employ people and contribute to our economy and be proud to be part of Malta and the Maltese. Oh no, nothing so complex. It is sufficient if they never set foot here as long as they give the Government a cheque for €650,000 purely because they wish to get into Europe and the United States totally unfettered and are unable to do so on the strength of their own native passport.
The icing on the cake: we will have no idea who these persons are. The very idea of having a number of foreign persons who have purchased a Maltese passport and whose identity would remain a secret is hideous and downright creepy.
Why, I would like to ask, should anyone, unless they have something to hide, be attracted by the fact that applicants and grantees will remain anonymous? And why should we be giving our nationality to someone who has something to hide?
I just wonder what the US Department of Homeland Security will have to say about that and whether the visa waiver programme which the previous government worked so hard to get will remain? After all, if an undesirable gets through the Henley & Partner’s due diligence (and they will be earning a commission depending on the amount of passports they sell and not on the amount they turn away) that same undesirable can be winging his way to the United States on the back of a Maltese passport in no time at all.
Is this what the people of this country deserve?
The people wish to know why the Government has decided to keep this list secret. The people wish to know who will be hiding behind this anonymity. The people wish to know why this law, which gives away for a song our nationality, which our fathers and forefathers have worked so hard for, was rushed through Parliament without a single member of the government benches questioning this entire stinking affair as though no one had the slightest say because it had to get done quickly come what may.
Anybody would think that it had suddenly become payback time for someone to whom the Government was indebted to. No doubt, the Government will retort that this is scaremongering. Well, perhaps it could allay all our fears then by answering our questions. In the meantime and until it does so, the whole thing stinks.
Another bizarre thing about this entire matter is that the Government, like every government before it, had a golden opportunity of inviting the Opposition to create a structure that made sense. Both sides of the House could have worked together on a structure that would have brought the Opposition to work with the Government. It would have been a coup for the Government. So why did the Government not follow this path?
It seems as though the reasons behind the rush, behind the closed list, behind the insignificant price must have been so compelling that the Government had to go down that route rather than what ought to have been the preferable and easier option of drafting a structure that would have got the approval of both sides of the House of Representatives and avoid irking the majority of the population.
It must have been a very compelling reason indeed and sooner or later we will find out.
This is not an individual investment programme. This is the cold and calculating unashamed sale of our citizenship for cash to an anonymous list of persons as though it were a sack of potatoes.
It is demeaning, insulting and shameful to us as a nation
Each and every Labour MP should be ashamed of himself for allowing this to happen. So much for electing a party using ‘transparency’ as one of its clarion calls. How very ironic.
Ann Fenech is president of the PN executive committee.
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