Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning that it was Simon Busuttil and the Nationalist Party who should be embarrassed by the European Parliament resolution on citizenship since it was they who had insisted that Malta should be singled out and mentioned by name.
In a reaction, the PN said the prime minister should stop acting like a bully against those who criticised him or his decisions.
Dr Muscat thanked the members of the socialist and green groups, who, he said, would be pushing for Malta's name to be omitted from the resolution.
Dr Muscat said 11 mentions of Malta in the original text - written by the PN - had been reduced to two. The socialists and the greens did not wish to see Malta mentioned at all because they did not want to be part of the local political game.
The government, would note the debate, he said, but would carry on with the scheme, in the same way as the European Parliament in the past called on Malta to introduce abortion, but Malta decided otherwise.
He did not think that today's debate would harm Malta.
Asked whether he was happy with the way how Labour MEPs worked within their group to get Malta's name off the resolution, Dr Muscat singled out Joseph Cuschieri for his unstinting efforts.
Dr Muscat made his comments after visiting Qormi primary school.
PN REACTION
In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said it was the prime minister who was undermining Malta’s reputation though the sale of citizenship scheme.
The prime minister’s comments this morning could only be seen as an attempt by Dr Muscat to gag those who were against the scheme, including some of his colleagues in the socialist group of the European Parliament.
The prime minister should stop acting the bully with whoever dared criticise him or speak in the interests of Malta in Malta or abroad, including in the European Parliament.
The debate in the EP and other fora, as well as the international press, was sparked solely by the government's decision to sell citizenship. Dr Muscat was wrong not to expect reaction when the sale of Maltese citizenship also involved the sale of European citizenship, the PN said.