VALLETTA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Malta will launch a revised Individual Investor Program (IIP) scheme "once the current scheme reaches its maximum limit," the government said in a statement on Friday.
"The government of Malta is engaged in discussions with European institutions with regards to the Individual Investor Program, and has communicated its decision," the government statement said.
"Citizenship is a matter of member state competence. However, the government of Malta remains open to ideas that could further improve the program," read the statement.
Malta's IIP was launched in 2014, which allows high-net-worth individuals to purchase Maltese citizenship, with all the benefits of EU citizenship.
The European Commission has repeatedly said that it dislikes such schemes. In a European Parliament Civil Liberties and Justice committee debate on Thursday, EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders confirmed that the commission had written to Malta, Bulgaria and Cyprus about moving away from such schemes. Enditem
