Ref. Ares(2020)1537959 - 12/03/2020
Ref. Ares(2020)1912113 - 03/04/2020
purposes. The scheme was limited to 1800 main applicants.
The money would be put in a Fund and serve for social
investment in hospitals, schools....
Francoise Le Bail referred to the public reactions, the EP
resolution, the international law context and the respective
jurisprudence (Nottebohm case of the ICJ and Rottmann case
of ECJ). She underlined that a genuine link to the country was
at the basis of nationality. She also stressed that granting
nationality also means granting EU citizenship and the rights
attached to it. She wondered whether a change of the investor
scheme could be considered to take the genuine link
better into account.
Dr Bonnici underlined the scheme requires applicants to keep
the property for 5 years to ensure the link with the country.
But he understands that the issue is about ensuring residence
status ahead of granting nationality - at least for some time.
He said he was open to consider but would have to bring this
back to his Prime Minister. He made reference to schemes in
CY and AT which also seem to lack the residency status but
acknowledged that other MS had schemes where residence
status for a certain time was the first step to
granting nationality. He also wondered how to effectively
enforce residence status - if put in the scheme.
Francoise Le Bail reassured Dr Bonnici that we see merit in
attracting investors to Malta, and that we do not want to
prescribe a specific system. She suggested an expert meeting
to look into the details of other schemes in order to find a
solution for the Maltese investor scheme that is in line with
international law and ensures the link with the country.
Dr Bonnino agreed with this approach and will be back in the
coming days to set up the expert meeting and to give
feedback as to whehter an amendment of the investor scheme
to bring it in line with international law and practise in other
MS could be considered. He underlined that he appreciates the
Commission efforts to sort this out.
Both sides underlined readiness to work rapidly on finding a
solution along those lines.
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