Mariclare Sepulveda Mr.

Vanderzee World Geography/ 7th February 6, 2014 Malta Selling European Citizenship If youre interested in moving to a small island south of the Italian island Sicily, then the country Malta is the place for you! Just recently, Malta started offering citizenship to foreigners, especially wealthy ones. Wealthy people interested in moving may find this exciting, but there are immigrants who have been living in Malta and wont be getting citizenship. The European Union is also unhappy with Maltas decision. Malta has been struggling with the economy. The economy depended on tourism, manufacturing, and foreign trade. It was affected by a global economic downturn (Bilefsky,2014). Compared to other European countries, Malta has a low number of unemployment. So offering citizenship for around six hundred-fifty euros will help with Maltas economic struggles (Boehler & Robertson, 2014). This new offer was meant to attract wealthy foreigners. The European Parliament was against Maltas decisions saying, European Union citizenship should not have a price tag (ibid). Malta is a country that is a part of the European Union, which is made up of 28 countries. The European Union was made after World War II between many nation of Europe. By creating this union the countries would be dependent on one another and if they had to work together, conflict would hurt everyone not just one or two countries. By buying a passport to Malta, new

Maltese citizens would have access to travel, work, and live in any other country that is a part of the European Union. So buying Maltese citizenship is almost the equivalent to buying European citizenship. Vivian Reding, the Union Justice Commissioner, doesnt think Malta should be selling European citizenship (Bilefsky, 2014). Many other members of the European Union dont support this idea. Not only because they are selling citizenship but because it brings up questions about Maltas values. Malta is almost just giving citizenship away, it seems as though anyone can be European. But the Union is very unhappy. Not all the other nations in the European Union support this idea because there could possibly be more people coming into their countries. The European Union believes that future citizens should be required to do more than just hand over the money. There is another group of people not pleased. This is the group of immigrants. There are many people migrating from Africa to Malta. These immigrants are usually more, so they cant afford to become Maltese citizens. Malta doesnt like the illegal immigration, but most immigrants end up staying and living in government housing or in overcrowded rented homes (Freeman, 2013). There has been a few thousand immigrants that have come to Malta in the last decade. Being such a small country, a few thousand people is a big addition to the population. But immigrants are upset because Malta is now looking for even more people to come and crowd the island. Malta should be more aware of how it will also affect other countries in the European Union. Becoming Maltese citizen may now be easier now and not everyone may think its a good or fair idea but Malta is its own nation. The maltese government believes this will be for the better of the country.

Bilefaky, Dan. Give Malta Your Tired and Huddled, and Rich. New York Times. 31, Jan. 2014. Web. 3, Feb. 2014. The World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mt.html. 4, Feb. 2014. Boehler, Patrick. Robertson, Benjamin. EU members consider selling residency to attract wealthy Chinese. South China Morning Post. 5, Feb. 2014. Web. 6, Feb. 2014. Freeman, Colin. EU immigration: Malta is the smallest state, and we are carrying a burden that is much bigger than any other country. The Telegraph. 21 July, 2014. Web. 5, Feb. 2014.