Commissie: Malta is vrij om EU-burgerschap te verkopen (en)

BRUSSELS - The European Commission said on Wednesday (13 November) that it has no power to stop Malta, or any other member state, from selling EU citizenship.

"Member states have full sovereignty to decide to who and how they grant their nationality," its home affairs spokesman, Michele Cercone, told press.

He added that the EU court in Luxembourg has "confirmed" in "several" cases that "it is for each member state to lay down the conditions for granting citizenship."

His remarks came after Malta on Tuesday passed a law to sell its passports for €650,000.

The scheme is expected to raise €30 million in its first year and up to €300 million a year when it is fully and running, as well as to attract big spenders and potential investors to the group of islands, which are home to just 400,000 native Maltese people.

According to the draft law, which must still be signed by Malta's president, the names of the newcomers will not be disclosed.

As EU citizens, they will also be entitled to live, work and, if need be, claim social welfare, in all 27 other EU nations.

The Maltese opposition has attacked the bill.

Simon Busutil, the leader of the centre-right Nationalist Party, said he would take back any sold-off passports if he gets back into power.

One of his MEPs, Roberta Metsola, filed an official question to the commission in Brussels which noted "this goes contrary to the spirit of what it means to be a citizen of Europe."

The Alternattiva Demokratika party, a green opposition faction, warned the move will "endanger" Malta's "hard-gained reputation" as a "reputable financial centre."

Despite the outcry, Malta is not the only EU country to offer perks for rich foreigners.

Austria doles out its EU passport to anybody who makes an €3 million donation to charity or a €10 million investment.

Portugal's "Golden Residence Permit" gives people who invest €1 million or more the chance to get a passport after five years. Spain and the UK also give residency, but not citizenship, perks to wealthy outsiders.

Meanwhile, the Cypriot president earlier this year said anybody who lost €3 million or more in its EU bail-out can get fast-track citizenship.

Its previous requirement was tougher. Under a 2007 law, foreigners could get Cypriot/EU passports if they had more than €17 million in a Cypriot bank, lived on the island, did business there are and had a clean criminal record.

The rules did not stop the scheme from attracting controversial people, however.

In mid-2012, Nicosia withdrew the citizenship of Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after his name appeared on an EU blacklist for bankrolling Syria's war machine.

According to the latest EU statistics, the UK grants the most new passports each year (177,565 in 2010), followed by France (114,599), Spain (114,584), Germany (109,594), Italy (56,153), the Czech Republic (36,012), Belgium (29,786), the Netherlands (28,598) and Portugal (23,238).

Malta handed out just 1,080 in the same year.