Nationalist MPs on Tuesday took to Twitter to react to the Prime Minister's claim that the European Union was taking action against Malta's passport scheme thanks to them.

The Prime Minister is totally out of his depth when he claims that MEPs are responsible for the initiation of EU legal action against Malta over the controversial “golden passport” schemes, MEP Roberta Metsola said. MEP David Casa added it was pathetic for the Prime Minister to always blame someone else.

The EU said Monday it will begin legal action against Cyprus and Malta over their schemes for foreign investors, which critics say have been exploited by criminals.

Cyprus said last week it would scrap its programme, which has brought the island some €7 billion, from next month after an undercover TV investigation exposed abuses.

Asked to react to the EU announcement, Prime Minister Robert Abela on Monday told journalists they could thank the Nationalist Party's MEPs for choosing to repeatedly attack their country instead of defending it.

“We will be defending Malta. Had it not been for the contributions from that programme, which we are in the process of winding down, we would probably not have been in a position to present a budget of this scale,” Abela said with reference to the budget presented a few hours later. 

In her tweet, Metsola said “I'm not sure what is more worrying, that he believes I am all powerful or that he truly has no idea how these things work. Totally out of his depth.”

Casa said Abela blamed PN MEPs for the Commission's move. "Always someone else's fault, never his own. Absolutely pathetic."