The leader of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament has said the sale of Maltese citizenship was “a serious matter” and promised his group would not take the issue lightly.

Joseph Daune told a press conference in Strasbourg that he found “the scheme to be introduced by Malta as strange” and pledged he would be pushing to put the issue on the agenda of the next plenary session of the European Parliament in December.

“We have now discovered that to become a Maltese citizen one only needs to pay €650,000. I think we need to discuss this in Strasbourg,” he said.

The EPP is the largest political group in the European Parliament.

Sources close to the EP yesterday told Times of Malta there was growing concern among MEPs over the scheme and some were calling for a debate on the issue.

The leader of Malta’s EPP delegation in Strasbourg, David Casa, called on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to change the scheme to avoid Malta further embarrassment. He said turning citizenship into a commodity was wrong.

“The only reason this is not illegal under EUH law is because at the drafting of the treaties it was not envisaged that a member state would behave so irresponsibly,” he said. The commission has already said it has no legal jurisdiction over the sale of citizenship schemes.