European Parliament Strongly In Favour Of Banning Golden Passports Schemes, Maltese Labour MEPs Against
The European Parliament has strongly voted in favour of banning golden passport schemes, calling on the Commission to change the current legislation.
However, all of the Maltese Labour MEPs, Alfred Sant, Josianne Cutajar, Alex Agius Saliba, and Cyrus Engerer voted against the resolution.
With the results being announced earlier this evening, an overwhelming 595 of 681 MEPs voted against the citizenship-by-investment schemes.
This comes after Sophie Int’ Veld said that the amendments to the wide-ranging legislative report have already been approved by political groups and expected a significant majority of MEPs would be voting in favour.
The report calls for golden passports, like Malta’s citizenship-by-investment scheme, to be phased out by 2025.
The citizenship by investment scheme has faced a lot of backlash over the years for being objectionable on a multitude of levels, including ethically, legally and economically.
MEP David Casa had also described the sale of passports as hurtful to governmental interests ‘in the fight against money laundering and corruption’ and requested that all those who have already bought passports be investigated thoroughly.
This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
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