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3 NEWS 7.4.2022 FROM PAGE 1 "e Commission considers that the granting of EU citizenship in return for pre-determined payments or invest- ments, without any genuine link to the Member State concerned, is in breach of EU law," the commission said in a statement, insisting that European val- ues are not for sale. e Maltese government now has two months react and if the EU executive is not satisfied with the reply the commis- sion may take the matter before the Eu- ropean Court of Justice. Maltese government reacts e Home Affairs Ministry, which oversees the scheme, said granting of citizenship falls within the national competence of a member state, adding that "it should remain as such". "e government notes the reasoned opinion concerning the acquisition of Maltese citizenship on the basis of in- vestment... the government reiterates that only worthy individuals benefit from an important right as citizenship on such basis, and that it will be keeping an open dialogue with the commission," the ministry said. It said that the government will ana- lyse the contents of the commission's opinion and communicate the relative reply to the European Commission in due course. Commission says golden passports undermine EU citizenship Malta has been selling citizenship to wealthy foreigners, whose only link to Malta is often a rental contract or house purchase where they hardly live. e scheme was amended in late 2020 mak- ing it a condition on would-be passport buyers to first obtain a residency per- mit. However, the scheme has come under fire because it can serve as a gateway for shady characters to gain a foothold in the EU by becoming Maltese citizens. e European Commission said inves- tor citizenship schemes undermine the essence of EU citizenship and have im- plications for the union as a whole. EU citizenship automatically gives the right to free movement, access to the EU in- ternal market, and the right to vote and be elected in European and local elec- tions. "e inherent risks of such schemes have once again been highlighted in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine," the commission said. In its recommendation on 28 March, Brussels stressed that member states still operating investor citizenship schemes need to terminate them imme- diately. e recommendation also calls on member states to ensure strong checks of investor residence schemes. Res- idence permits granted under such schemes to Russian or Belarusian na- tionals, who are subject to EU sanctions in connection to the war in Ukraine, should be withdrawn immediately. Malta has suspended the scheme for Russian and Belarusian nationals fol- lowing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and last week, the Maltese government said it started the process of withdraw- ing citizenship to two Russian nationals against whom sanctions were levied by the US in connection with the Ukraine invasion. In October 2020, the commission de- cided to send a letter of formal notice to Malta asking to end its investor cit- izenship scheme and subsequently sent an additional letter of formal notice to Malta on 9 June 2021, following the in- troduction of a new scheme by Malta at the end of 2020. e commission said Malta's suspen- sion of the citizenship scheme for Rus- sians and Belarussians was a positive step but noted that Malta continues to operate the scheme for all other nation- als. Malta has not expressed its inten- tion to stop the scheme altogether. "e Commission considers that such a scheme is in breach of the principle of sincere cooperation (Article 4(3) TEU) and infringes the very status of citizen- ship of the Union as laid down in the Treaties (Article 20 TFEU). erefore, the Commission has decided to send Malta a reasoned opinion today," the commission said. Similar action was taken against Cy- prus and Bulgaria. Cyprus stopped pro- cessing applications and, as of 15 Octo- ber 2021, revoked the citizenship of 39 investors. e commission is assessing the situation in Cyprus before deciding on the next steps. On 24 March 2022, the Bulgarian Par- liament approved an amendment to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act, which aims to end the investor citizenship scheme. Malta's scheme Malta launched its first scheme in 2014, known as the individual investor programme (IIP). Since then a large number of investors and their family members were granted citizenship. At the end of 2020, Malta established a new scheme, after the original one came close to reaching its limit of 1,800 suc- cessful main applicants. e new scheme maintains the prin- ciple that nationality can be awarded systematically, in return for pre-deter- mined payments, without having to establish any genuine link between the applicant and Malta. Maltese government insists citizenship is a matter of national competence MICROSOFT is marking five years since the launch of Teams which to- day sees over 270 million users, with the launch of new research results into how business leaders and employees are responding to hybrid work. e company also announced new features across Microsoft Teams, Mi- crosoft 365, Surface Hub and Micro- soft Viva to empower hybrid work and address employees' new expectations for the workplace. e annual Microsoft Work Trend Index Report outlines how employees today have a new "worth it" equation on how they view work and the work- place. Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice Presi- dent, Modern Work, Microsoft states, "e last two years have been pro- foundly impactful and values such as flexibility and well-being have become non-negotiables for most employees. Making hybrid work work for everyone will therefore require intentional lead- ership around how, when, and where to work, and technology has a key role to play. By embracing and adapting to these new expectations, organizations can set their people and their business up for long-term success." Microsoft's 2022 Work Trend Index outlines five urgent trends from an external study of 31,000 people in 31 countries along with an analysis of tril- lions of productivity signals in Micro- soft 365 and work trends on LinkedIn. ese trends show amongst oth- ers how 53% of employees say they're more likely to prioritize their health and well-being over work than they were before the pandemic and that over and above this, 52% of Generation Z and millennials are likely to consider changing employers in the year ahead, up 3% year over year. e survey also highlights the need for leaders to make the office worth the commute. is is corroborated by 38% of hybrid employees who said that their biggest challenge is knowing when and why to come into the office alongside the fact that only 28% of leaders have created team agreements to define these new norms. Flexible work also meant more work. After two years, weekly meeting time for the average Teams user is up 252%, and chats sent per person each week is up 32% — and still climbing. While workday span has increased by 46 min- utes, after-hours and weekend work are up 28% and 14%, respectively. With 51% of hybrid workers con- sidering a shift to full remote work in the year ahead, companies cannot rely solely on the office to recoup the social capital we've lost over the past two years. 43% of leaders say relation- ship-building is the greatest challenge of having employees work in a hybrid or remote environment. e new enhancements announced by Microsoft in Teams include Teams Connect shared channels that enable collaboration with people inside and outside the organization from a shared workspace, a new AI-powered Micro- soft Surface Hub 2 Smart Camera that uses automatic framing technology to provide a dynamic view of in-room interactions, language interpretation that enables live interpreters to convert what the speaker says into another lan- guage in near real time and Microsoft Whiteboard to bring visual collabora- tion to life. Microsoft's TEAMS is five years old

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