A new government would “do well” to phase out the passports scheme, according to MEP Alfred Sant.
In a Times of Malta opinion piece, the former Labour prime minister said the passports programme had attracted “too much opprobrium”, although not necessarily for the right reason.
Earlier this month, Sant was among the four Labour MEPs who voted against a European Parliament motion calling for a ban on such citizenship schemes.
They were the only members of the socialist parliamentary group to do so.
Sant dismissed any link between the FATF greylisting and the passports scheme.
“The PN opposition and others have tried to pin the reason for it on the passport for investment programme,” he says.
“But the greylisting has been activated not because of the passports programme but because there is little trust in how Malta has been running financial services and gaming – both launched under Nationalist administrations.
“If eventually they come under EU regulation, they could end up like agriculture and manufacturing,” Sant argues.
He says that declines in these sectors will not be easy to counter and new areas of economic initiative will need to be identified.
In the same sentence, Sant takes a swipe at, and gives a nod to, the PN’s election proposals to seek out new areas of economic development.
“The 10 ‘new’ economic sectors which the PN election campaign ‘identified’ would not count for much, though why not also push them,” he asks.
Advice to clean up government
Sant also says the anti-corruption drive must be accelerated, with pending cases cleared out as soon as possible, both politically and criminally, while new safeguards are put in place.
Clearly, he says, the “so-called” commission against corruption is worthless when it comes to fighting corruption.
He adds that the splitting of responsibilities for ministries, projects and contracts, so that “all have a finger in the pie but no one is fully responsible for any given decision”, must stop.
“Lines of command and responsibility from the prime minister to the humblest clerk should be clearly laid out and transparent.
“Again, this would go against embedded cultures of nepotism, old boy networks, political patronage and much more.”
He says this “reform agenda” is going to take guts and perseverance, plus lots of political capital, which the present administration has.
Unless such an agenda is laid out and implemented, the likelihood will increase that Malta will be unable to navigate European waters successfully, Sant continues.
“Definitely, the government will have to be prepared to sacrifice votes as it pursues such aims, whose impact many will dislike. Up to now, all administrations have balked at this,” he says.