Scam as the main danger of dual citizenship of Ukrainians
29.08.2019Summer will soon be over, and ragweed allergy season will be replaced by politician allergy season.
The Servant of the People party, which won a political majority for the first time in the history of independent Ukraine, received carte blanche to pass any laws. This unwittingly gives rise to hopes for change, but one of the problems of modern Ukraine will surely remain unsolved. The problem of dual citizenship.
What's in the shadows
The modern Ukrainian discourse around foreign passports is totally emasculated. There is everything in it, except the most important thing. We are discussing the distribution of Russian passports in Crimea, we are complaining about Hungarian passports under Transcarpathian pillows. But at the same time, we are not worried that some Ukrainian officials or politicians may have European citizenship. It is not interesting, and some people even like it. They say, if our politicians will also have European citizenship, then we ourselves will be in the EU within five minutes... Yeah, now, let's run.
While we are discussing the distribution of Hungarian passports and Russian toilet paper, big money travels quietly on the shadow side of public consciousness.
Let's light up the world.
How to get EU citizenship
Citizenship of the European Union is issued together with the citizenship of a European member state. He got in wherever he could and immediately became a European with all the required bonuses. Visa-free entry to the key countries of the world, good prospects for business development, a powerful legislative "roof" of the economic superpower.
Getting the cherished "crust" is easier than it seems if you have money. Several European EU member states are successfully trading passports. This is called "investment citizenship". The principle is simple: you pay money to the state budget, buy real estate, invest in a local business — and immediately become a citizen.
When a Ukrainian businessman buys a second citizenship by investing his own money, it is sad. But you can't do anything here. We all understand why Ukrainian business is fleeing the country and hiding money. And what about an official who has never worked in the private sector or "professional" "politics"? Where did he get such money?
Cyprus
A small paradise island will attract all willing "investors" for a modest donation of 150 euros, which will go to the development of the country. In addition to this small fee, you need to invest in Cypriot real estate and securities not less than two million euros. Most of the investment can be returned after three years, but take the entire amount out at once and put it back.
At this moment, concrete questions arise for the Ukrainian official and "professional" "politician". Where does money come from a person who has lived on a salary all his life?
One soldering iron will not do, you need to get a tee socket...
Malta
Another good island on the world map. A member of the EU and the British Commonwealth, quiet, calm, cozy. Will you buy a passport? If you give Malta 650 euros, and also invest 000 euros, you have a Maltese passport in your pocket. Even a trolleybus driver can afford it!
It is difficult to imagine a businessman who gives his earned 650 euros for a passport when there are many times cheaper offers from other EU countries. On the other hand, a corrupt person, who doesn't care how much he steals, will easily spend money on a "spare airfield" in order to hide the loot there later. The official is not playing with his own money, but with our money. Can afford.
The purchased passport is only the first step. People arrange their lives thoroughly so that at any moment they can leave Ukraine and never work again. Money is flowing out of Ukraine in a roaring stream...
Austria
If the island states do not attract you, you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of old Europe. Austria has kindly been handing out passports to investors since 1985 — one of the pioneers in this business. It is impossible to tell in advance how much you need to lose in order to become a compatriot of Mozart, Beethoven and Hitler. Offers for investors are "individual". But if you control a few good corruption schemes in Ukraine, somehow you collect sky-high Austrian contributions.
They are among us
Ukrainian corrupt officials with a second European citizenship are invisible to radars. As vampires, they live among people, ask for our blood and prefer to stay in the shadows. Officials with Russian citizenship or, at worst, Israeli citizenship are caught in the news - the game of "exposing a Jew" is still popular in the post-Soviet space. But enemies on TV often turn out to be second-family neighbors, so the topic of European citizenship is not raised in the plums of the compromising material. Ukrainian officials are holy and blameless, nowhere, never and nothing. Honestly, honestly!
Money is important. They need to understand who exactly and how much. For most people, the amount above one million hryvnias is simply "a lot". But this is a very weak definition.
To steal a simple passport, you need twenty-seven times "many". Twenty-seven million hryvnias for a Maltese passport. Cyprus is more expensive. There are other countries, but the price tag is a horse everywhere. You won't earn that kind of money in the public service, so no one cheats with this citizenship. It is in the shadows, waiting for the right time.
It is terribly embarrassing to read on the Internet the streams of admiration that traveling Ukrainians pour on European countries. Ah, what a well-groomed province there! Oh, what beaches there are, what embankments! Of course, at our house everything has worn out and collapsed, there is always a lack of money. Our money is constantly going somewhere. Money flows through the money supply to good countries to make them even better.
What about the laws
Ukrainian legislation proclaims the principle of single citizenship. This is written in Constitution (Article 4) and law on citizenship (Articles 2 and 19). However, There are no real penalties for a passport of another country. Moreover, the citizenship law itself is schizophrenic, as it uses mutually exclusive approaches in different articles. Article 2 states that no matter how many passports a person has, only Ukrainian passports are considered. Article 19 of the same law states that a second citizenship may be the basis (or may not be) for revocation of Ukrainian citizenship. This is all that the Ukrainian legislators were able to squeeze out of themselves during the 28 years of independence: the Ukrainian passport is either a priority one, or it must be canceled urgently.
It's time to stop this mess.
What need to do
Europe will not do our work for us. Europe is permanently worried, under pressure from Brussels, "hospitable" countries tighten checks on their "investors". Some countries may even be closed to toxic characters, but money will find a way. Not to one country, but to another. Not to the European Union, but to the Caribbean.
The problem must be solved in Ukraine with the help of real responsibility under the law on citizenship.The Servant of the People party and President Volodymyr Zelenskyi will be able to do this already in September if they want.
It is fundamentally important that the Ukrainian legislation be put in order not according to the principle "for everything good against everything bad", but rationally. Peasants, wage-earners and businesses should be left alone, only civil servants are being shaken, but as cruelly as possible. Do you work for the state of Ukraine and keep a passport of another country under your pillow? Ten years in prison with confiscation of foreign property.
Having narrowed the abstract task of the "struggle for passports" to the simple destruction of the looting system, Ukraine will have the opportunity to organize targeted address requests for specific people, instead of running along the shore with a frequent net. An official with dual citizenship must sit in prison, and let ordinary people do what they want. We will fight for them when money appears in Ukraine.
Main question
For deputies to vote for real punishments for dual citizenship is like bees voting against honey. Therefore, you should not wait for a similar bill to be written and voted for "from above". This will happen only with a very strong, organized and motivated request "from below". Ukrainians should start asking where their money is. Because the state is built for us, not for vampires hiding in the shadows.
Try to make the deputy from your majority constituency understand this. This is your servant :)
