The government denied this afternoon that it needs to take the citizenship scheme back to Parliament in order to remove the secrecy clause. It said this was part of subsidiary legislation.

Reacting to comments made earlier by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, the Office of the Prime Minister said the government over the past few days showed that it was reasonable and flexible, by heeding the people's views and dropping the secrecy clause.

It augured that in the coming days, the Opposition would itself be flexible and truly ready for talks and an agreement with the government.

It pointed out that the citizenship programme was part of the Budget approved by Parliament and passed to the European Commission in terms of a schedule dictated by the EU.

PN REACTION

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said the government had ignored the people's criticism of the citizenship scheme for weeks. 

The prime minister's decision to drop secrecy was motivated by convenience after the Opposition said it would itself reveal the names of those granted citizenship, and after the humiliating overseas publicity.

The PN pointed out that secrecy was introduced to the scheme when the government in Parliament removed clause 25 of the Citizenship Act which imposed a duty on the government to publish the names of new citizens within three months.  Therefore, if the prime minister was serious about dropping secrecy he needed to return to parliament to reinstate clause 25. He also needed to ensure that no secret passports were issued before this clause was reinstated.

Once a clause of primary legislation had been removed, it had to be restored in the same manner.

Regarding the government's call for Opposition flexibility, the PN said citizenship should not become an issue of negotiations.  It reiterated its view that any citizenship scheme should be linked to investment that created jobs, and a period of residence in Malta.

The Opposition called for serious discussion on the subject.