Simon Busuttil insists there is no contradiction between his opposition to indefinite Schengen suspension and his doubts on the motives of foreigners with false passports.
The Opposition leader said yesterday it was the government that was giving conflicting messages on security.
On Sunday, Dr Busuttil tweeted his opposition to the Prime Minister’s remarks that the government would suspend Schengen even after the Commonwealth summit as a precautionary measure.
The tweet followed comments Dr Busuttil made on Radio 101, when he reiterated doubts on the government’s claims that foreigners with false passports stopped in Italy were only coming here to work.
On Monday, Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami quoted Italian media reports that claimed the foreigners were Muslim extremists and Malta was some form of jihadi base. He asked for clarity from Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela.
The government has repeatedly insisted the people arrested in Italy were coming to Malta to seek asylum and find work and no terrorist connection of any kind was found by the Italian authorities.
Dr Busuttil yesterday insisted he had a problem with the indefinite suspension of Schengen because it did not tally with government’s insistence that there was no terrorist threat.
“I agreed with the temporary suspension of Schengen because of the Valletta [migration] summit and CHOGM but the wholesale removal of a right beyond these events raises questions about the government’s attempts to ensure peace of mind,” he said when asked whether his position was in sync with popular sentiment that Schengen should be suspended in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Dr Busuttil said the biggest threat to Malta did not originate from Schengen countries but from people coming from outside the EU with visas given to them by Malta.
He said it was scandalous that the government was handing out Schengen visas in their thousands from the consulate in Algeria, a number that ballooned over the past two years.
He was speaking at the end of a visit to Golden Harvest, where he was given a tour of the company’s renewable energy drive.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com