Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this afternoon that the talks with the government on citizenship had failed because the concept of an immediate sale of citizenship remained at its core.

Speaking at a press conference after a final meeting with the prime minister, Dr Busuttil said said Dr Muscat had set a deadline for himself and the talks had failed.

The Opposition, he said, was urging the government to scrap the scheme.

Unfortunately, he said, the prime minister had persisted in having a citizenship-for-sale scheme, something which the opposition objected to.

On Saturday, he said, the prime minister made his last proposal and the opposition replied today, saying the proposal was unacceptable as the changes he was proposing were cosmetic and did not change the substance of the scheme, which was the sale of citizenship. He said he could not give details once both sides had bound themselves to confidentiality.

But the opposition was insisting that citizenship should not be granted immediately through a sale.The opposition said citizenship should be granted after a period of residence, and investment.

The government, he said, had dressed up the scheme but ultimately, this remained a citizenship-for-sale scheme.

"This is still a citizenship-for-sale scheme, whatever the government says," Dr Busuttil said.

During the talks there had been progress up to a point, but ultimately it was either total agreement or nothing, he said.

He said the opposition had agreed with a remark by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna that the granting of citizenship should be capped at, say, 50 a year.

The Opposition leader said the opposition had tried its best to bring about a new scheme which would not harm the country.

The opposition had gone into the talks in good faith, he said. While the prime minister was saying he would present a 'new' scheme later today, the PN had no information of what was new in it and would comment in due time.

On the basis of the information it had, the opposition felt the scheme should be withdrawn outright because it would only serve to continue to harm the country. The best thing for the country was to tell the world that the scheme had been scrapped.

When asked, Dr Busuttil was non-committal on whether the issue should be referred to a referendum but said the opposition would challenge in parliament any legal notice which retained outright sale under the so-called 'new' scheme.