Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today that the citizenship scheme would need to be taken back to Parliament if the government was truly dropping the secrecy clause.

This, he said, was an opportunity for the government to seek consensus which would see the scheme changed from one of outright sale of citizenship to one which attracted investment and residence.

The Opposition was ready to play a constructive role, he said, but if the government continue to plough ahead with its plans regardless, then the Opposition would consider all its options, including joining a national alliance seeking an abrogative referendum.

Dr Busuttil was speaking at the end of a meeting of the PN General Council which unanimously approved a motion entitled Jobs, Seriousness and Identity.

He said the lesson of the week was that it took years to build a country's reputation, and 24 hours to demolish it, as the government had done with the Citizenship scheme. 

The PN, he said, had a record of creating jobs. The government had no vision to create jobs. The present government also lacked seriousness and it was selling Malta's identity.

"We are seeing an attack on our country's basic moral values. The government does not know the difference between what is good and what is bad, what it moral and what it immoral," Dr Busuttil said.

As he did in his speech in parliament on the Budget, Dr Busuttil said it was good that the government was introducing more incentives for people to go out to work, but the government lacked a strategy to actually create jobs, he said.

Its only idea was to sell Maltese citizenship. The failure of the Budget was shown by the fact that in his speech on Tuesday Dr Muscat announced three new ideas which were not in the Budget. (The calls for expressions of interest in the White Rocks Complex, the Valletta parking and a new yacht marina at Sa Maison).

Dr Busuttil said there was no seriousness in the government when it scandalously dropped a court case over properties involving the PL. It was also scandalous how the Police Commissioner called the Magistrates' Court the lowest of the lower courts, and nothing happened.

Other scandals included the appointments given to those close to the PL and the promotions in the army, to the detriment of other people, Nationalists and Labourites.

AFM COMMANDER SHOWED HOW PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE BRIBED

Dr Busuttil saluted the outgoing commender, Brig Martin Xuereb, who in refusing a government post in Brussels, showed that people could not be bribed.

Continuing, he said it was scandalous that the 'cancer factory' at Delimara would continue to use the same fuel as before, that a cost was being imposed on IVF treatment, and that Enemalta was being privatised despite promises to the contrary.

'THEY ARE SELLING OUR COUNTRY'S SOUL, OUR SOUL'

Turning to the citizenship scheme, Dr Busuttil said the approval of the scheme by Parliament on Tuesday was a black day for democracy because the government had no electoral mandate to sell Maltese citizenship.

Dr Busuttil said it was cynical to sell one's identity for a quick buck. In so doing the government was undermining Malta's identity. 

"They are selling their soul and ours', this is immoral," he said. "We are giving hat it dearest to us for those who have money," e said.

How could one now argue with other countries about taking migrants from Malta? Once Malta had places for the rich, it should have space for the poor, he said. This was what made this a moral issue.

The government claimed it needed the money for social projects. But what about the €30m for an enlarged Cabinet, what about the huge salary for a minister's wife and the multiple pays to several MPs?

The PN, he said, had from the outset called for consensus on the citizenship issue. Instead of selling citizenship outright, Malta needed a scheme to attract investment. But the government rebuffed those calls.

The PN also insisted that the secrecy clause was damaging. And it had been proved right. Within 24 hours of the law being approved by Parliament, Malta was ridiculed around the world with words such as 'scandal' in Italy and 'special offer at rock bottom price' in France. In Germany, newspapers said 'Malta is magnet for the mafia' and 'Malta operates in human beings'.

"We have become a laughing stock, we need to take a stand to insist that they cannot throw away our dignity," Dr Busuttil said.

"Does anyone still believe the prime minster when he said he wants Malta the best in Europe? Now we are the worst in the world," he said.

Now, Dr Busuttil said, after days and weeks, the prime minister had sounded the retreat by binning the secrecy clause. This had come about after the PN warned it would get the names of those granted citizenship from the Monitoring Board and publish them. So now the government felt it should publish them itself (applause).

If the secrecy clause was removed after the government listened to the people, as it claimed, then the whole scheme should be stopped outright. The country's identity must not be sold.

If the secrecy scheme was truly being dropped, the law had to be taken back before Parliament. But would passports first be sold secretly?

This, issue, Dr Busuttil said, was a national one and not just a political one, and civil society should therefore speak out. Citizenship was taghna lkoll and had to be defended as such.

The Opposition, he said, would continue to fight the scheme for as long as it remained a scheme of outright sale of citizenship. The legal notice on the rules of the scheme would be contested in Parliament.

As for the calls for an abrogative referendum, Dr Busuttil said that he would prefer consensus. The Opposition was being constructive he said. It was giving the government another chance for consensus once the scheme had to be taken to parliament over the secrecy clause. This would be the opportunity to change the scheme from sale of citizenship to a scheme of investment and residence.

Until then, he said, the scheme should not be brought into operation.

And if consensus was not achieved and the government carried on with its plans, the Opposition would not exclude anything, including joining a national alliance calling for an abrogative referendum.

At the beginning of his address Dr Busuttil thanked in particular Eddie Fenech Adami, who was present for the meeting.

At the end of his speech Dr Busuttil was joined by the PN Parliamentary group, with all MPs waving their passport.