The Nationalist Party has protested to PBS after it was not invited to send a representative for a discussion on the citizenship scheme.
The party said a political interview was held on TVAM today with Joe Vella Bonnici, executive chairman of Identity Malta. The citizenship scheme, the European Parliament debate and speeches made by MEPs and the deputy president of the European Commission were mentioned. Yet the PN was not invited to have its say on a matter which was controversial and of public interest.
The actions of PBS were abusive and illegal, the PN said.
But in a reply, PBS said it had decided to hold the discussion on the EP debate on two days - with a panel which did not include politicians on the first day and with politicians on the second.
Several invitations were issued for today’s discussions some of which were accepted. However, one person contacted the station in the evening saying he could not attend for personal reasons.
TVAM then contacted Mr Vella Bonici and asked him to attend the programme as chairman of Identity Malta, which was responsible for the scheme.
When he accepted, a person who was taking part was informed of the change in the panel and this person opted not to take part. TVAM tried to contact others to represent the opinion of those who were against the scheme but it was too late in the day and its attempts were unfruitful.
The station said that during the programme, the PN’s position was represented with interviews taken in Strasbourg with MEPs David Casa and Roberta Metsola.
For the second day of the discussion, tomorrow, TVAM invited the political parties to send their representatives before the party had formally lodged its objection with PBS.
PBS said that in tomorrow’s programme Kevin Plumpton will represent the PN and Cyrus Engerer the PL.
The station said that while Mr Vella Bonici was not a PL candidate in the last election, in the coming days it intended to invite an observed who was against the scheme to take part in a programme.
In a reaction to the PBS statement, the Nationalist Party said the reasons given were unacceptable and the matter would be referred to the Broadcasting Authority.