The Opposition is calling on the government to urgently convene the citizenship scheme monitoring committee in the wake of reports that a number of foreigners have already benefited from the programme.
Addressing a political activity in Nadur as part of the PN’s European Parliament election campaign, party leader Simon Busuttil, who sits on the committee, yesterday evening said he was yet to receive a reply to a request sent some time ago for it to meet.
It would be a contradiction if the party took this position
He said his sole interest was to inform people of the identity of the beneficiaries of the scheme, once the government had said it would publish these names along with those who acquired citizenship through naturalisation.
On spring hunting, the Opposition leader said the party was not planning to come out against it, even though PN MEP candidate Jonathan Shaw had recently declared his support for the anti-hunting lobby.
“It would be a contradiction if the party took this position after having fought to keep a limited spring hunting season when it was in government,” said Dr Busuttil.
Touching on the economy, the PN leader raised questions about the government’s announcement that the deficit was down. He said the national debt had soared by €373 million even though the government had said that last year’s deficit was €200 million.
He also criticised the Youth Guarantee Scheme, saying that only about 300 people would benefit out of the estimated 5,800 unemployed youths. He also asked whether the beneficiaries would be those in the PL’s inner circles. Probed about civil rights, Dr Busuttil recounted how in 2003, prior to the EU accession referendum, the PL had gone on a scaremongering campaign in which it had said Brussels would impose same-sex marriages and euthanasia on the country.
He said that 10 years down the line, it was the PL who had legislated to introduce civil unions.
Asked if a PN government would revoke gay adoptions in the wake of its reservations on this issue, Dr Busuttil said the party’s ultimate interest was the present situation and not on the scenario in 2018.
On decriminalisation of drugs, he said PN administrations had already started to look at ways in which first-time offenders could be given a second chance.
“We are open to such proposals but we will only take a stance once these are in hand,” he said. Dr Busuttil also emphasised that there should be a clear distinction between legalisation and decriminalisation of drugs.
Probed about the recent controversy on abortion, he said he trusted the clarification issued by the government that such a proposal was not even in its long-term plans.
However, he pointed out that previously the Prime Minister had changed his position on issues like gay adoption.