Simon Busuttil told a political meeting in Sannat the Nationalist Party had always been proven correct in its arguments on the citizenship scheme. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The Nationalist Party will continue insisting that relatives of those applying for Maltese citizenship must also live on the islands for a year, the Opposition Leader said yesterday.

“We want to change the legal notice so that those who don’t live here for 12 months would lose their right to citizenship… just as those who don’t respect conditions of renting or owning a property for five years will,” Simon Busuttil told a political meeting in Sannat.

Last week the government issued the third legal notice under the citizenship scheme to include provisions that were agreed upon with the European Commission.

Dr Busuttil said the Nationalist Party had always been proven correct in its arguments on the scheme, even though it had been criticised.

“The government removed the element of secrecy, included the requirement of investment and now residency. We have now spotted a mistake in the latest legal notice,” he said. There is a discrepancy between the Maltese and English versions of the third legal notice, one speaking of a residency period of three years and the other of five years.

The government has to do what it promised and not try to get away from what was agreed upon

The government said it was a ‘typing error’ that would be corrected.

Even though the government’s agreement with the European Commission included a minimum “effective residence” period of 12 months, this was not mentioned in the most recent legal notice, Dr Busuttil said.

The government went a step further and those who applied could bring family members along and these had no obligation to live in Malta for 12 months, he added.

“We will propose amendments to make the legal notice clear. The government has to do what it promised and not try to get away from was agreed upon,” he said.

The party wanted all those granted Maltese citizenship to have a connection with the country and not “simply receive the passport in the mail”.

Even though the government had insisted that one could not amend a legal notice, three versions had been issued already.

“Now that there is a mistake in the last one, it is saying that the notice can be amended,” he said.

Turning to unemployment figures, Dr Busuttil said these were increasing, with at least 15 per cent of youths without a job.

The PN had always kept unemployment figures low, even amid the “worst economic recession in history”.

The economic situation was now improving and, yet, the unemployment rate was rising under a Labour government, Dr Busuttil said.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had broken his electoral promise of meritocracy and that he would work with everyone, because jobs were being created only for those close to the Labour Party.

Reacting to Dr Busuttil’s comments, Labour said the PN leader did not speak about his vision for Malta and was only “pessimistic, partisan and negative”.

Dr Busuttil, Labour added, was not interested that the country continued growing economically, exceeding the expectations of international credit agencies such as Standard & Poor’s.