Updated | Busuttil: 'No breakthrough in citizenship talks'

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has reported that no breakthrough has been registered on talks on the sale of passports through the Individual Investor Programme.

Citizenship talks: no breakthrough but talks to continue Monday. — Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) December 21, 2013

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Busuttil were locked in talks at Castille over the Individual Investor Programme.

No conclusions on the required changes have been reached so far.

The scheme has been a source of much controversy in the past weeks, with the Opposition leader insisting that his position remained one "based on a point of principle: citizenship is not for sale".

The citizenship scheme has generated massive international interest, both for the fact that an EU member state was selling passports and access to the eurozone for non-EU nationals, as well as for the potential €30 million that the Maltese government is seeking to rake into its public coffers by 2014.

The Opposition says the sale of citizenship should be based on a five-year residence period and on a minimum €5 million investment.

The Prime Minister has also publicly admitted that the government made a mistake by not listening enough to what the stakeholders were saying on the scheme.

Last Sunday, Muscat also said that he was positive that the government and the Opposition can agree on certain issues. "The negotiations are now in their final stages... I will remain optimistic to the end," he said.

Finance minister Edward Scicluna has also told members of a European Parliament committee that the number of annual IIP passports could be expected to be capped.