Listen: ‘We Are A Nation Of Corsairs’ – Joseph Muscat
Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat candidly stated on a podcast that Malta is a “nation of corsairs”.
Muscat was recently interviewed on Adam Juchniewicz’s Bitcoin Lawyer podcast, which mainly focused on citizenship by investment schemes but also touched on a few local issues.
At one point, he provided an analogy for the Maltese spirit and identity.
“The best way of defining ourselves, even if some people might take offence at this definition, is that we are corsairs,” he said.
“The difference between pirates and corsairs is that pirates do things illegally while corsairs have a license to do things that are on the brink of what is acceptable by the mainstream.”
“In many ways, we have always done that, being a mercantile nation. However, we have also done that politically over time by being one of the very first countries to recognise China, one of the very first countries to have relations with Palestinian people while maintaining excellent relations with Israel. The citizenship program can be best interpreted in this spirit.”
Muscat repeated this analogy towards the end of the podcast when he urged the government not to fall behind other countries in terms of making Malta an attractive jurisdiction for crypto companies.
“It’s about keeping up the pace. I wouldn’t say we were trailblazers but we were one of the first entrants in this industry and I don’t want us to lose traction but rather to keep our corsair spirit, the courage to venture to the edge of the world when others still believed it was flat, only to discover that it’s round.”
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