The Opposition will be submitting amendments to the Citizenship Act approved from second reading in Parliament this evening.

The amendments include the possibility of extending the entities which can market the scheme to include others, including companies in the financial services sector in Malta.

The Opposition also wants to add a minimum residency of five years for people to be eligible for citizenship as well as linking the scheme to investment and job creation.

Other amendments are aimed at improving the scrutiny process and for the publication of people who would have acquired citizenship through the scheme.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this evening “the scheme stinks” and would enable the sale of a Maltese passport against "a donation”. Citizenship was “priceless” and the Opposition’s objection was "a question of principle".

Addressing a news conference he said:

"Whoever is proud to be Maltese was today insulted in the worst of ways by a Government which wants to sell Malta's citizenship which is not (Prime Minister) Joseph Muscat's but ours as a nation."

Dr Busuttil said the scheme was downgrading Malta to a dubious country and contrary to Government claims, no EU country has such a scheme.

Dr Busuttil insisted that his party's position to withdraw citizenships once in Government was "legally correct".

Asked about the party's position on the nomination of former head of the civil service Godwin Grima to act as a regulator of this scheme, Dr Busuttil said: "His appointment would not change anything, it is useless having a good regulator or moderator if the scheme in itself stinks and this is why we are proposing changes to improve what is being proposed."

 

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