The Nationalist Party has submitted a motion in Parliament which includes a number of amendments to the legal notice put forward by the government regarding the establishment of Xjenza Malta (Science Malta), PN MPs Ryan Callus and Claudette Buttigieg said in a statement on Tuesday.

Xjenza Malta is intended to take on the role of the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST), which the PN said was a project established "as the fruit of the innovative vision of the Nationalist Party back in 1988". It added that the PN places research and innovation as an important pillar of its economic vision for Malta.

Callus and Buttigieg said that through these proposed amendments, the PN is introducing the involvement of scientists, researchers, and academics from the University of Malta and MCAST, as well as representatives from the Chamber of Commerce. The MPs added that with this motion, "the PN is continuing to prove how research and innovation are going to be an important pillar in its new economic vision for Malta".

The PN said that "in light of the fact that Malta finds itself in last place when it comes to European countries in the research and innovation sector", it felt the need to bring forward these amendments because the advancements that Malta needs to make in the sector should be one without precedent. It referred to a peer review conducted in 2019 composed of experts from the European Commission, which "found that Malta's economic model is not sustainable and that Malta needs to invest in innovation and research".