During the recent secret negotiations between the government and the Opposition over the contentious citizenship programme, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia had pledged to resign “if any residency requirement” whatsoever were attached to the Individual Investor Programme.

Opposition Home Affairs spokesperson Jason Azzopardi revealed the telling statement yesterday during the recording of the Realta`  talk show, hosted by Brian Hansford, in a debate on the citizenship programme with Parliamentary Secretary for Justice Owen Bonnici.

During lengthy discussions, which failed to produce a result at the end of the day, both parties had agreed to keep the contents of the secret discussions under wraps. But it was apparently Dr Bonnici’s insistence yesterday that talks had fallen through because of the Opposition’s refusal to budge from its demand of a five-year residency requirement for prospective new citizens, and his claim that the government could have been willing at the time to contemplate a period of residency, that spurred Dr Azzopardi into letting the proverbial cat out of the bag.

Dr Azzopardi yesterday challenged Dr Bonnici to deny that Dr Mallia had categorically stated during negotiations that “if there is any residency requirement in the IIP, I will resign from Parliament”.  Dr Bonnici, who was present for that discussion – along with PN Administrative Council President Karol Aquilina, Dr Azzopardi and Dr Mallia – did not deny the statement.

Whatever the case, Dr Mallia’s comment sheds light on the government’s mindset, and its unwillingness to introduce any sort of residency requirement to the IIP. It also shows that, far from its claims to the contrary, the government had, in fact, succumbed to the will of the European Commission on the thorny issue of residency when the two sides struck an agreement for a one-year residency requirement.

It also helps explain the inexplicable statement by the Prime Minister right after the announcement of the agreement with the European Commission this week, in which he attempted to pass off the one-year residency requirement as a minor upgrade to a mysterious previous six-month residency clause.

The problem is that there was never any six-month residency required of prospective citizens in the IIP. The only six-month period ever mentioned in this context was the minimum due diligence period, and the Prime Minister’s statement belies the fact that the government had been steadfastly against any residency requirement from the outset, as evidenced by Dr Mallia’s unyielding stance on the issue as revealed by Dr Azzopardi yesterday.

Contacted yesterday, Dr Azzopardi said that the Opposition had been willing to climb down from its five-year stance in terms of the length of residency required, but the government had steadfastly refused to introduce any such requirement, even of one day. Dr Azzopardi said the meeting in question had taken place on 23 November in one of Parliament’s committee rooms.

Also contacted yesterday, Dr Aquilina confirmed Dr Azzopardi’s version of events and Dr Mallia’s statement, adding that he had warned Dr Mallia about the comment and that he had taken note of it as part of his practice of taking precise minutes of all meetings.