The controversial cash-for-citizenship programme was yesterday approved by Parliament amid calls for an abrogative referendum to repeal the law.
Speaking in the aftermath of the vote, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil vowed to carry on the fight, insisting the Nationalist Party was excluding nothing.
“By excluding nothing we will also consider an abrogative referendum,” Dr Busuttil said when asked by Times of Malta whether the PN agreed with earlier calls by Alternattiva Demokratika for the law to be repealed through an abrogative referendum.
Dr Busuttil defended his party’s stand that it will withdraw citizenship obtained under this law when in government, adding that the Attorney General’s advice that this would be anti-constitutional was not absolute.
“Even if his advice was absolute, let’s not forgot the AG is the Government’s lawyer,” Dr Busuttil said. The PN had legal advice to the contrary.
The controversial law will give non-EU nationals the right to acquire Maltese citizenship for €650,000. The names of the beneficiaries will be kept secret.
The law was approved at its last stage by 37 votes in favour and 30 against. Two government ministers, George Vella and Evarist Bartolo were abroad on government work.
Later, Dr Busuttil described the result as “a black day for democracy” and insisted the Opposition will challenge in Parliament the legal notice linked to the law when this is published.
Before the session got under way, 50 Moviment Żgħażagħ Partit Nazzjonalista members staged a silent protest in front of Parliament.
The protesters, in white T-shirts and with their faces painted red and white in the colours of the Maltese flag, held large posters which read Kburi li jien Malti (Proud to be Maltese) and Malta tagħna għal bejgħ (Malta for sale).
At first the protesters were not allowed on to St George’s Square by the police who gave no reason for their action. They were eventually allowed to stand on either side of Parliament’s main gate.
A black day for democracy
As Prime Minister Joseph Muscat arrived he turned to the demonstrators to hear what they had to say.
MŻPN president and MEP candidate Kevin Plumpton explained this was their last-ditch attempt to appeal to MPs to vote against it.
Dr Muscat told the youths they had every right to protest but he did not agree with them.
One of the demonstrators told him his father – a Maltese American – had been denied Maltese citizenship in Dom Mintoff’s time and was only granted it after the election of Eddie Fenech Adami.
Dr Muscat said he was sorry about this but he wanted to give citizenship to more people.
When the young man argued that citizenship should not be sold to foreigners, Dr Muscat asked him if this meant that foreigners who married Maltese spouses should not be given citizenship. That was a different argument, the man replied.
Earlier, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola urged civil society to unite and collect signatures to force a referendum as the law could tarnish Malta’s reputation as a financial services centre.
The Malta Chamber of Commerce Enterprise and Industry warned against rushing through the roll-out of the programme, saying this would not be in the county’s long-term interest.