Last year’s plan by the Maltese government to sell Maltese citizenship for €650,000 apiece made headlines. Maltese worried about their national identity. EU officials worried about that unsavory characters could gain near-complete freedom of movement in Europe. Malta subsequently amended its plans. This case sheds light on a deeper tension in the conception of European citizenship, and perhaps the concept of citizenship generally. The ideal of European citizenship is one of unrestricted movement across national borders and reconciliation among nations. In fact, the benefits of this ideal are tied to economic and racial criteria. Recent debates in some member states about whether Romania and Bulgaria, and especially their Roma populations, should enter into the Schengen Area are illustrative. So, too, the increasing securitization of Europe’s borders against refugees. The ideal of European citizenship aims to build trust across national and socio-economic borders. Its reality is a perversion of this goal.
