Finance Minister Edward Scicluna this afternoon admitted in front of the European Parliament there were mistakes in the sale of Maltese citizenship scheme, particularly in the way it was marketed and said the government was working to rectify the situation.

Addressing the EP's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Malta’s budget, Prof. Scicluna said if he was an MEP he would not accept the situation.

He said the government was now in discussions with the Opposition to change the scheme and introduce further measures to tie it with investment. He said that one of the avenues being explored was capping to restrict citizenship to, say, 50 foreigners a year.

“It is not that all the Chinese are coming to Malta,” he said.

A video clip of Edward Scicluna’s address was posted on the Facebook page of Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola here.

PN REACTION

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said the finance minister had admitted before MEPs what the prime minister had refused to admit before the Maltese people - that the sale of citizenship scheme was a mistake.

The prime minister had carried on despite disapproval by the opposition and civil society in Malta. He had even marketed the scheme abroad, and marketing was continuing.

The PN hoped that talks would be continued so that the final text of the law would reflect the people's wishes and citizenship would not be put for sale.