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EU Sues Malta In European Court Of Justice Over Sale Of Citizenship Scheme 

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Malta is facing legal action by the European Commission over its controversial sale-of-citizenship scheme.

In a statement, the European Commission said it is filing a lawsuit against Malta at the European Court of Justice as it doesn’t believe that the sale EU citizenship to people without a genuine link to a member state is in line with the EU principle of sincere cooperation and the concept of EU citizenship.

The EU’s legal action comes after it had formally told Malta to end the citizenship scheme in October 2020, and again in June 2021.

Malta will fight the case, with the government arguing that the scheme is in line with EU law.

It said the scheme respects the principle of sincere cooperation and that it is accompanied by robust due diligence processes which address risks related to money laundering and the financing of terrorism, thereby ensuring that only “worthy individuals” acquire Maltese citizenship and consequently European citizenship.

The government also noted that the legislative framework was scrutinised by the likes of Moneyval and the FATF.

“The entities and their processes successfully passed the same evaluations and were even recognised as a model for other countries in the fight against the activities of the mentioned organised crime. These processes also include the sharing of information in a transparent manner with third country jurisdiction,” it said.

Such action shall, therefore, gives Malta the opportunity to continue rebutting the said allegations and let the Court of Justice of the European Union settle the matter by ruling on the interpretation of the treaties.”

Do you agree with the sale of citizenship scheme?

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Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]

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