The Opposition is going to pull all the stops in its power to scrap the controversial citizenship scheme, according to its leader Simon Busuttil.

And if all the options at its disposal fail to get the scheme ditched, then a future Nationalist government is still not ruling out withdrawing applicants’ passports.

“But I must stress, for the time being we’re not focusing on the withdrawal of the passport but on scrapping the scheme. We believe it can still be scrapped,” Dr Busuttil told The Sunday Times of Malta.

“This is in the country’s interests because the scheme remains one of sale and continues to create reputational damage for the island,” he added.

The two sides had attempted to find an agreeable compromise after the cash-for-citizenship scheme garnered negative publicity worldwide, but these talks failed just before Christmas.

Despite a shift linking the scheme to an investment in property and government stock – a passport will now be offered to non-EU nationals for €1.15 million – the PN believes the changes are “cosmetic”.

As opposed to the original €650,000 donation, the scheme now binds future Maltese citizens to purchase a property worth at least €350,000 or pay an annual rent of €16,000, coupled with an investment of €150,000 in government stocks or bonds.

“We gave consensus and negotiations a very good run but these failed because the objections we had in principle – that citizenship should not be sold – have not been addressed,” Dr Busuttil said yesterday.

He accepts that the revised scheme is a step forward and credits his party for persevering in opposing the scheme as originally proposed.

“If it were for the government the first scheme would have applied,” he said.

I’m shocked that the Prime Minister is on record saying he consulted all the stakeholders and now it turns out to be a lie

The PN’s main objection remains that citizenship should only be given after an applicant’s commitment to the country over a period of five years; a time frame established for those who marry Maltese nationals.

The party is also contesting the “extraordinarily exaggerated” capping of 1,800 applicants, which Dr Busuttil stressed was highly misleading.

“Although we’re talking of 1,800 applicants, the law specifies that each applicant can bring along their spouse, children, parents and grandparents as well.

“So if you have a typical Arab family you’re possibly looking at 10 people as a minimum, which would easily see the numbers reach 10,000 [citizens].”

Dr Busuttil said the PN would have lived with the capping of 50 per year as proposed by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna during his replies to MEPs at the European Parliament; a blunder the government had kept its distance from.

Outlining his party’s plan of action, Dr Busuttil said the first step would be to challenge the legal notice within the time frames stipulated by law once Parliament reconvenes.

When it was pointed out that the chances of government scrapping the scheme were very slim, Dr Busuttil quickly shot back: “Well, who would have thought the government would have been willing to reopen the package after it enacted the law?”

If challenging the legal notice fails to get the desired results, the PN has a series of options in store to attack the scheme, including the possibility of holding a referendum to strike off the law.

Dr Busuttil said the Opposition “completely disagreed” with the latest opinion of the University’s Faculty of Law dean Kevin Aquilina.

Earlier this month, Dr Aquilina wrote in Times of Malta retracting his original position and saying that an abrogative referendum on the scheme could not be held because this had become a financial matter linked to the Budget.

“We still don’t exclude an abrogative referendum... We believe Kevin Aquilina’s assessment is wrong,” he said.

But if all else fails, will the Opposition revert to its original threat to withdraw citizenship sold under this scheme?

“Our actions are aimed at scrapping the scheme and not contemplating the prospect of it continuing. The idea of withdrawing the passports assumes the scheme will continue,” he said. Pushed to contemplate the scenario, Dr Busuttil said: “If all else fails and the scheme continues, then we still consider the withdrawal of the passport like we did originally.”

Asked what would happen to the applicants’ assets in this case, Dr Busuttil said the passport would simply be withdrawn and the bonds and residence would remain the individual’s property.

Reacting to an article in yesterday’s Times of Malta, Dr Busuttil said he was surprised to read that five of the seven constituted bodies on the Malta Council for Social and Economic Development had not been consulted.

“I’m shocked that the Prime Minister is on record saying he consulted all the stakeholders and now it turns out to be a lie. The Prime Minister has some explaining to do.”