Calls for quorum force ministers out of Cabinet meeting
Golden passport programme debate: Nationalist MP Charlo Bonnici says the majority of citizens oppose the sale of citizenship.
5 November 2013, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
3 min read
Nationalist MP Charlo Bonnici
Tuesday morning's parliamentary sitting was twice suspended after Opposition whip Davis Agius called for a quorum while Nationalist MPs debated the controversial golden passport scheme.
The Individual Investor Programme that will sell Maltese citizenship at €650,000 is expected to reap €15 million in revenues for the home affairs ministry, and another €15 million that will be poured into a national development fund.
With only home affairs minister Manuel Mallia present on the government's benches, David Agius called for a quorum, which requires at least 15 MPs from both sides of the House to be present.
With only Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and a handful of other Nationalist MPs present, the sitting was suspended. After a few minutes the government ministers returned, only to go back to the Cabinet meeting that is being held in the Prime Minister's office a minute after the sitting restarted.
Nationalist MP Frederick Azzopardi, who had restarted his address, was abruptly stopped again as the Opposition whip asked for another quorum.
"Since no cameras are in place in the House, I must explain what just happened. The government MPs walked out only seconds after entering the chamber. What a shame Mr Speaker," Agius said.
Soon after the session restarted again, with government MPs taunting Azzopardi for being stopped twice during his address by his own whip, Speaker Anglu Farrugia intervened to calm down the situation.
Earlier on, citing Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna's comments posted on Twitter, Nationalist MP Charlo Bonnici said that the government's controversial plans to sell citizenship to foreigners for €650,000 was being opposed by the majority of Maltese citizens.
"It is clear that the scheme being proposed by the government has not been accepted by the people and has not gone down well with the majority of people as seen on social media, newspapers and other public reactions," Bonnici said.
On Sunday, Bishop Charles Scicluna posed a number of questions to all MPs in a tweet which made it clear that he was against the proposed law. "Do we really need to put Maltese citizenship on sale? Is citizenship a bond or a commodity? What else is on sale?" the bishop asked.
Insisting that the majority of Maltese citizens were against the citizenship scheme, Charlo Bonnici said that the government was "ignoring the people's concerns."
He added that the Opposition was opposed to the scheme which granted foreigners citizenship against a donation, stressing that citizenship should only be granted to persons who reside and have long-term investments in Malta.
The IIP (Individual Investment Programme) will sell Maltese citizenship to applicants and their dependants for €650,000 and the Opposition has made it clear that if the scheme is not amended, the scheme would be removed and citizenships revoked once the PN returns to power.
Bonnici also pointed out that Henley & Partners, the exclusive concessionaire for the Maltese government's citizenship programme, had a conflict of interest since it would be carrying out the due diligence on applicants while at the same time earning a commission on each application.
"How can a private company conduct a serious due diligence when it's in the company's interest to sell citizenships," he asked.
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
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Illum il-gurnata mhux ta b'xejn li l-ebda guvni-worth his weight in gold- (ghax in-nisa diskriminati) mhu jidhol qasis mall-knisja Maltija! Qlief antikalji u nies medjokri m'hemmx!
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All the people were against spending over 100,000 Million on the new parliament Mr.Bonnici,not on citizenship.
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Kif dan Charlo Bonnici jaf li l-maggoranza tal-Maltin huma kontra din l-iskema tac-cittadinanza? Billi tkellem fuqha xi Isqof b'daqshekk il-maggoranza kontra? Il-poplu Malti flus gejjin irid sur Bonnici u l-Isqof ahjar jara 'l ghala qed jonqsi n-nies milli jattendu l-knejjes milli jindahal fil-politka. Kristu qalilhom biex ihallu kollox u jigru wara n-naghga l-mitlufa u mhux ikunu politikanti. U fuq ic-cittadinanza billi jigi xi Russu biljunarju u jixtri cittadinanza lili x'se johodli mhxu jaghtini jista.
Luke Camilleri •
If there is anything "cheap" about the Citizen Scheme it's the Opposition's criticism just because they did not thing of it themselves..... & FZD and Commodini did not get the tender ;)
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If selling our citizenship cheaply is such a good idea, why wasn't it included in the PL's electoral programme?
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Why should the opposition call for quorum when they knew that ministers were not playing but attending caninet meeting? Opposoition just want to put spokes in the wheels. They cannot stomach to see PL government doing such progress and creating whealt to the Maltese.
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I do not understand why the church and Bishop Scicluna has to intervene on the proposed citizinship. This is not a mtter of the church. Has the church not learned its lesson after the divorce crusade where it not only lost the battle but also seceral faithfull?
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I do not understand why the church and Bishop Scicluna has to intervene on the proposed citizinship. This is not a mtter of the church. Has the church not learned its lesson after the divorce crusade where it not only lost the battle but also seceral faithfull?
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I don't understand how anyone can say that the majority of the people are against this scheme. The only sure thing is that, when last the people were asked to officially approve anything, their answer was a colossal thumbs down to the pn and their mismanagement.
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Hsibt li ta SIMONPN kienu se jqattu bicca bicca din il ligu mhux kien hemm 4 biss.Minkejja li l-bravu Manwel Mallia kien wahdu kien ippreparat li jiehu l-oppozizjoni kollha wahdu. Bravu Ministru.
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One feels and is one hundred per cent plus positive that the Maltese Government would not be granting Maltese citizenship to any would be applicant for just €650,000 without any strings attached. As to Mr Charlo Bonnici's claim that the firm Henley & Partners has a conflict of interest when it comes to recommending an applicant, Mr Bonnici knows very well that the final decision whether a recommendation is accepted or rejected rests solely with the Maltese Government and with no one else.
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In a two-party system, parliament is clearly nothing but a charade. Send them all home on half-pay.
Mark Fenech •
Din min liema survey ħarġet li l-maġġoranza tal-Poplu Malti huwa kontra din il-liġi. Dan għax kiteb l-Isqof Scicluna? Naħseb dan tal-aħħar ukoll kien kontra d-divorzju imma meta ġejna għas-si u no, l-Poplu deherlu mgħodd ieħor. Ma naħsiebx li dan l-Isqof għandu jitkellem fuq liġi li ma għandiex x'taqsam mar-Reliġjon, għalkemm personalment għandu dritt tal-opinjoni tiegħu.
Wara li l-maġġoranza huma kontra l-liġi, naħseb aħjar jerġa jaħsieba sewwa dan Charlo, għax il-Poplu jaf jerġa jagħtih risposta ferm differenti bħal ma tagħ f'Marzu, imma dawn tant huma nies arroganti li jippretendu li wara x-xebha li qalgħu għandhom dritt jiddettaw, ma tarax.
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Dan nesa kif il Partit tieghu bieh kollox bl-assi. Dan mhux bejh ta propjeta bir rabass bhal Mid-Med f'sena u nofs gabu flusom lura tal HSBC. Dan mhux il Go jiehu bicca art ma li hadu ta €25miljun u kwazi fdew kollox f'sentejn, halliena Charlo anzi ha jgieb il gid ghax min hu sinjur ikun iried il kumditajiet u xi butlers jhadmu , sa anki drivers, u sefturi. Titkelliemx Charlo ghax hawn min qieghed hawn Malta bil permess tal Ministru Precedenti qiesu ghandu ekwivalenti passaport Malti. B'min trid titmejjel Charlo tigi tghid li l-maggoranza ma trid IIP, tivvinta xi znieta min tieghek.
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Ma nistax nifhem li fil-kaz tad-divorzju il-kurja ta` Malta halset ma nafx kemm flus il-lajci biex joqghodu jitkellmu kontra id-divorzju; kif fuq il-lisbjani u il-omesesswali qalet ftit hafna, u fuq din il-bicca xoghol li il-knisja la jidholla u lanqas johrogilha, isqof mil-kurja fetah halqu u issa qed jgholli lehnu fejn ma jindahalx.Tal-ghageb dan il-pajjiz.Ghafen il-gvern ma jaghmilx li biex tkun cittadin Malti trid tkun Kattoliku Rumun u trid thallas 40,000€ il-kurja ta` Malta. Min jaf x`kien jaghmel Charles!
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are we back to the medieval times since he quoted the bishop in order to oppose the scheme? the only conflict of interest the pn is seeing is the fact that the company of therese commodini cachia was not chosen to process the applications!
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Bravu Monsinjur Scicluna tal-palata li qed taghti lill-Partit Nazzjonalita. X'jimporta li l-knejjes ikomplu jitbattlu min-nies. Mhux hekk?
