Simon Busuttil: “The Government has steamrolled over the Opposition and the Maltese population.” Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil yesterday said he suspected that the citizenship scheme was conceived prior to the March general election and the Government and Labour Party already know who will be granted a Maltese passport.

Speaking during an interview on the party’s Radio 101, Dr Busuttil said his suspicion emanated from the fact that there was “absolutely no consultation” on the scheme before it was proposed.

“The Government spoke about White Papers and consultation in the Budget but absolutely no consultation took place on a crucial measure like the citizenship scheme, which did not feature in Labour’s electoral manifesto. This raises suspicions that the scheme had already been agreed upon before the election.

“I will go a step further and say that the Government already knows who will be given Maltese citizenship,” he said.

This secrecy raises suspicions and we think that this is a suspicious scheme

Dr Busuttil said that, despite a raft of amendments put forward by the Opposition, the Government “did not budge an inch” and “used its nine-seat majority to steamroll over the Opposition and the Maltese population”.

He said the Opposition tried hard to seek consensus on this scheme – “which stinks” – by proposing, among others, that it be linked to a minimum investment in Malta and is only granted after a period of residence.

It also suggested that the names of all those granted citizenship under the scheme be published, but this was not accepted either.

“What’s all this secrecy? This secrecy raises suspicions and we think that this is a suspicious scheme,” he said as he vowed that “the matter will not end here”.

“The Opposition is obliged to defend Maltese citizenship which is something that is not up for sale. If they are going to be hard-headed, then we will not exclude anything, including repealing the citizenship scheme.”

Turning to the Budget, Dr Busuttil said that tonight in Parliament, in his official reaction, the Opposition would be “revealing the other side of the coin... of this election Budget”.

He said one main defect of the Budget was that it lacked a vision and a clear plan on how it was going to create employment.

“There were good measures for more people to enter the labour market but there was nothing for the creation of new jobs. The Budget was laden with good measures, most of them started by previous administration. But it lacked honesty because there were many things which the Government did not say. We will speak about our vision for our country and we will show how the Government is not acting according to acceptable standards.”

In reaction, the Labour Party said Dr Busuttil had no idea what was going on around him and was intent on being destructive about anything innovative the Government was proposing.