PN Leader Adrian Delia today said that in principle he was against "the sale of citizenship, the sale of your own country to anyone", but that the PN Parliamentary Group was discussing the issue to examine how the country could attract individuals who were "looking to invest rather than just simply purchase a document of sovereignty," when asked by The Malta Independent for the party's position on the Individual Investor Program (IIP).
After Identity Malta issued a statement saying that the government had a mandate to extend the Individual Investor Programme (IIP) scheme in January and it would seek public consultation with the aim of improving and strengthening the programme, PN Deputy Leader David Agius was asked by Indepth in February if the party was taking so long to come up with a position on the IIP extension because of differing views within the parliamentary group itself.
"What I can tell you is that up until last Monday this was one of the main items on the agenda. Once we have the final stand we will make it public," he said.
The PN were initially vocal critics of the initiative, however, former leader Simon Busuttil appeared to u-turn on the party's position during the 2017 general election, indicating that he would keep and amend the scheme should he had been elected.
On the scheme itself, Delia explained he was a "vociferous critic" of IIP during its first round in the last legislature.
"In principle, the sale of citizenship, the sale of your own country to anyone, is something that I disagree with," he said.
With regard to the discussions that have been taking place within the PN Parliamentary Group, Delia said that they are not discussing the mechanics of the legislation, but are seeing on which points it does not agree in order to construct a proposal that will still bring a catchment of investors to Malta.
"We want to see true investors, who are looking to invest in the country rather than just simply purchasing a document of sovereignty."
Asked whether there is deadlock within the parliamentary group given that they have been discussing the issue for months, Delia denied this was the case.
"There is not deadlock at all and there is not any particular problem which is preventing us from going to the public with our position. Whenever we have had diverse ideas of different legislation, we have had no hesitation to make that public. At the PN we welcome diversity of opinion, rather than shy away from it."
'Parliamentary privilege is a responsibility' - Delia calls for investigations into Azzopardi allegations
Delia also faced questions concerning Jason Azzopardi's adjournment speech in Parliament, where he made the explosive allegation that police sergeant Aldo Cassar called one of the three murder suspects in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, hours before the police raid at a shed in Marsa, which led to their arrest.
"It is a delicate issue given that the statement is protected by parliamentary privilege. Azzopardi informed the public of the serious allegations he had learned. Using parliamentary privilege is massive responsibility, so I understand that since Azzopardi chose to make that statement, he certainly did not take the decision lightly. He thought about it and took responsibility for what he said."
"I am still waiting for the opposite though. These accusations, whoever made them, should be investigated. There needs to be a serious explanation, rather than a simple denial, to the public so they can have faith that the security forces are protecting them rather than protecting criminals."
Asked whether he was concerned that Azzopardi had chosen to make the speech without informing him, Delia said " as a fact, he did not inform me," but did not expand further.
He was also asked for a reaction to a Newsbook article which claimed that Jason Azzopardi was no longer the PN Spokesperson for the Environment.
Delia denied this was the case, saying that no decision was ever taken by the party on this matter.