‘Latest developments confirmed EP citizenship debate was unnecessary’ – Cuschieri

Labour MEP Joseph Cuschieri said that the agreement reached between the EU commission and Malta on the Individual Investors Programme (IIP) served to show that the citizenship debate in the European Parliament last month was “an unnecessary, harsh attack on Malta.”

Addressing the plenary session of the European Parliament, Labour’s head of delegation noted how the Commission’s position was not far away from that of the Maltese Government.

“This permitted both sides to reach consensus within hours,” Cuschieri said.

He said that most MEPs were misinformed about the IIP by “certain members of the parliament who brought partisan politics before national interest,” referring to Nationalist MEPs Roberta Metsola and David Casa.

Cuschieri concluded that he could not understand how some wanted to shoot down Malta’s IIP when citizenship schemes existed in other EU states.