Citizenship scheme needs to be taken back to parliament to drop secrecy clause - Busuttil

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...