Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil.

The Nationalist Party will today file a judicial protest against the government and Henley & Partners over the cash-for-citizenship scheme, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday.

He said the protest would let those who applied for the controversial citizenship scheme to be informed that the European Commission was investigating Malta over the matter.

“We also want them to know that when the Nationalist Party is in government, these will be revoked. They will therefore know what they are applying for,” he said while addressing a political meeting at the party’s headquarters in Pietá.

The Opposition would continue fighting the cash-for-citizenship scheme in Parliament by “attacking the legal notice”. Pointing out that the government held a seven-seat majority, Dr Busuttil appealed to government MPs to come forward. “I hope there are people of goodwill who realise that the scheme is causing the country damage and we are calling on them to stand up and be counted. We need you to do it”.

He said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat seemed to be taking the road of challenging the EU, “which is our family”. Dr Busuttil said a family could not move ahead in an atmosphere of aggression or tension. When the Opposition criticised the government it was accused of working against the national interest but “actually we are the ones defending it”. Even when the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly against the citizenship scheme, it defended the country’s national interest more than the government did, Dr Busuttil said.

The party did not want the country to “prostitute itself”. “We have our principles and our citizenship was not for sale,” he said. The scheme was causing problems with other countries, Dr Busuttil continued, adding that it was not healthy for the Austrian Embassy to contradict statements by Dr Muscat that the Maltese scheme was similar to theirs.

We also want them to know that when the Nationalist Party is in government, these will be revoked

The Labour Party said Dr Busuttil was panicking and wanted to try and salvage public opinion.

Alternattiva Demokratika too criticised the PN’s decision to file a judicial protest, saying it was a “gimmick we could do without”.

Dr Busuttil’s claim that a PN government would revoke citizenships was a declaration it “will ride roughshod over human rights”, AD said.