29 Jan Malta & Brexit
According to a statement given by Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this past Wednesday, Malta will be offering its British residents living in Malta a 10-year residency permits that will guarantee them the same rights they currently have, even in case of a no-deal Brexit.
He told reporters that his country aims at being the most ‘British-friendly’ country in Europe post Brexit.
Although Muscat said he regrets Britain’s decision to leave the EU, he also agrees with his fellow EU leaders with regard to the integrity of current withdrawal agreement, notwithstanding the British parliament’s refusal of said agreement.
Malta, which was itself a British colony until 1964, has some 13,000 British expats and a third of its tourists come from the UK.
Muscat said that “Britons already living here have nothing to worry about because of Brexit”. Both those working and/or studying in Malta could continue to be able to do so.
Any UK citizen who moves to Malta post Brexit will also be able to receive a 10-year residence permit, but their rights would be like those granted to other third-country nationals, he said.
In leu of the fact that many British businesses have decided to set up offices in Malta, so as to retain access to the EU post Brexit, Muscat was asked if Malta’s aim was to lure enterprises away from the UK, to which he answered that they were more interested in smaller companies with a few thousand employees rather than large multinationals.
In particular, enterprises with subsidiaries/parent companies in the US, India and Japan. He predicted a steady flow of businesses registering in Malta in the future.