NEWS The European Commission has announced that its review of the Legal Notice including the “effective residency” clause is now completed and it is “satisfied with the changes made to the Maltese Citizenship Act”. This is equivalent to the Commission officially giving the last stamp of approval to the Maltese government to proceed with the implementation of the citizenship scheme.
The “effective residency” clause was the last remaining bone of contention with the programme but the Commission has found the revamped residency clause to be in line with what was agreed upon late last month between the Commission and the Maltese authorities.
The requirement for Individual Investor Programme (IIP) applicants is that of a minimum residency of 12 months.
A spokesperson for the Commission confirmed that EC vice-president Viviane Reding is satisfied with the amendments made by including an “effective residence” requirement of at least 12 months as a pre-condition for obtaining citizenship.
“This addresses the concerns previously raised by the Commission,” the spokesperson said.
“For Ms Reding, the 12-month requirement is an acceptable compromise, which reflects the duty of sincere cooperation among Member States and between Member States and the European Union,” the spokesperson said.
The Maltese government had entered into discussions with the European Commission, the two sides reaching a final agreement on 29 January by telephone, through which Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat had committed himself with Ms Reding to “the introduction of an effective residence status” – for 12 months – before granting citizenship to IIP applicants.
But despite the verbal agreement, the European Commission told this newspaper last week that it was still analysing the text to confirm that it ensures the “effective residence” requirement is met, when asked if it had been satisfied with the Legal Notice’s text.
The spokesperson said: “Ms Reding trusts Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s word that the amended citizenship scheme will now be effectively implemented on the ground – as had been agreed.”
The EC spokesperson also pointed out that as the European Commission and the European Parliament have stated, that all Member States must be treated equally, the Commission is currently analysing investor schemes in all Member States in order to see if any further action is required.
Opposition leader Dr Simon Busuttil had called on the Prime Minister to stop the citizenship programme after members of the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly with 560 votes in favour and just 22 against. The resolution called on Malta to bring its citizenship scheme “in line with European values”.
Dr Busuttil, in a five-minute message on the PN’s media, had called on Dr Muscat to listen to the message sent by MEPs, which he referred to as a massive no-cnfidence vote in the citizenship scheme. Legally, the non-binding resolution had no impact on the IIP.
Following the vote, Dr Muscat emerged saying the government respectfully took note of the vote in the European Parliament, but would still go ahead with the citizenship scheme anyhow.
This led to the European Commission’s legal experts to start discussing possible proceedings against Malta since the scheme was being considered as a gate to the rights enjoyed by EU citizens.
A day before the EP vote was taken, Ms Reding had been quoted saying that the “citizenship granted in one country has to be recognised in all Member States; this gives a person granted citizenship in one Member State rights in 27 other States and not just the one in which it has been granted”.
The government and Opposition had held a string of talks, unsuccessfully, in an attempt to reach an agreement on the scheme.
[source: www.independent.com.mt]