Social partners are afraid Malta’s reputation has already taken a significant hit despite the government’s attempts to reinvent the citizenship scheme.
This sentiment was conveyed during Tuesday’s meeting between members of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development and Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, who explained the party’s objections to the revamped programme.
Apart from the opening exchanges, which were reported by the media, the meeting was held behind closed doors.
However, sources said that with the exception of the General Workers Union, which had already declared its backing for the scheme, all MCESD members expressed concern over the manner in which the government had handled the scheme, albeit to varying degrees.
The same sources said that apart from lamenting the bad press overseas, a number of officials from different unions and constituted bodies recounted their personal experiences while travelling abroad in recent weeks, when the scheme was the butt of jokes.
“During a recent meeting abroad the first thing I was asked by a foreign colleague whether my passport as well as my professional degree were up for sale,” one representative recounted.
“I was so embarrassed by the remarks that I wished the ground would swallow me up.”
Some of those present also expressed their anger at how the government had forged ahead with the scheme.
Others questioned the point of tomorrow’s MCESD meeting to be addressed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat when the scheme was a “fait accompli”, as the government had already published the legal notice outlining the regulations.
The social partners, however, also urged the Opposition to place the national interest above partisan politics and reach an agreement with the government. But Dr Busuttil was adamant that as long as the government did not scrap the idea of selling passports, there was no hope this would happen.
In a statement Labour yesterday accused Dr Busuttil of trying to put spokes in the scheme’s wheels.
Dr Busuttil had adopted contradictory positions throughout the debate and badmouthed the country to the international media, the party said.
The government, it said, was committed to moving the country forward through the money raised by the scheme, which had been revised in consultation with the social partners.