Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1381694
9 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EDITOR: PAUL COCKS BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 N ational citizenship within the EU is a member state competence that Brussels has no jurisdiction over. It is the individual member states that determine the rules of who becomes a citizen of their country or not. However, the EU treaty makes it clear that every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall also be a citizen of the Union. It further adds that citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not re- place national citizenship. EU citizenship grants the individual rights that are uniform across the mem- ber states which is why EU treaty does call on member states to adopt the prin- ciple of 'sincere cooperation' in all they do. is is the context that frames the Eu- ropean Commission's decision yesterday to continue with its infringement pro- ceedings against Malta and Cyprus over their sale of citizenship schemes. e Brussels executive yesterday issued a letter of formal notice to Malta in which it reiterated concerns over the new citi- zenship by investment programme that replaced the IIP late last year. "e Commission considers that by establishing and operating investor citi- zenship schemes that offer citizenship in exchange for pre-determined payments and investments, these two Member States fail to fulfil their obligations under the principle of sincere cooperation and the definition of citizenship of the Union as laid down in the Treaties," the Com- mission said in its June infringements bulletin released yesterday. e Commission also noted that al- though Cyprus and Malta remain re- sponsible to decide who may become Cypriot and Maltese, the Court of Justice has made it clear on multiple occasions that rules on the acquisition of the na- tionality of a Member State must do so having "due regard to EU law". Malta has argued that the EU has no competence on citizenship matters, in- sisting that its citizenship programme has multiple layers of due diligence that act as safeguards against undesirable characters. e programme now makes it incum- bent on anyone wanting to purchase cit- izenship to first obtain residency. It also raises the amount of money that has to be invested but the genuine link with the island remains tenuous. But it would be foolish to believe that Malta and Cyprus are the only 'culprits'. Some countries have other schemes couched in different terminology and yet other countries offer wide-ranging citizenship paths to people from former colonies that could also raise questions of security for the EU. e truth remains that citizenship af- fairs are a national competence and the European Commission's incessant ham- mering on Malta and Cyprus has all the makings of a bullying exercise because they are small states. If the Commission feels that these type of investment programmes – or for all intents and purposes any citizenship scheme or path – are a threat to the EU it should propose a way forward applicable to all member states. ere is an argument to be made that a decision to award Maltese citizenship to someone who is ready to pay the right price is a matter of interest to other EU member states. Maltese citizenship will give the in- dividual access to rights across the EU, which is the biggest selling point for rich foreigners wanting a foothold in the one of the world's largest trading blocs. But addressing the potential pitfalls of schemes like these requires good faith, fairness and transparency across the board. is applies to the Maltese au- thorities but also to the Brussels execu- tive. Selling citizenship: good faith, fairness and transparency 10.6.2021