Member States Must Take Action On Golden Passports Schemes Like Malta’s, EU Commission Urges
The European Commission has urged Member States to immediately repeal any existing investor citizenship schemes and to ensure strong checks are in place to address the risks posed by investor residence schemes.
This is not the first time that the infamous golden passport scheme has come under fire by the EU. The Commission has always shown strong opposition and concern about investor citizenship and residence schemes and the risks they pose.
“European values are not for sale. We consider that the sale of citizenship through ‘golden passports’ is illegal under EU law and poses serious risks to our security. It opens the door to corruption, money laundering and tax avoidance”, Commissioner for Justice and Consumers, Didier Reynders said.
However, the so-called citizenship by investment schemes in the EU have come under fire more recently for the threats they pose to European security amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Commission warned that Belarusian and Russian nationals against whom sanctions have been made may still be travelling freely in the Schengen Area if they bought EU citizenship.
Therefore, the Commission recommended that Member States assess whether or not citizenship granted under so-called “golden passport” schemes to Russian or Belarusian nationals on EU sanctions lists in connection to the war in Ukraine should be withdrawn.
It has also been recommended that the EU countries immediately withdraw or refuse the renewal of residence permits under an investor residence scheme to Russian or Belarusian nationals under the same conditions as the other recommendation.
The recommendations put forth yesterday form part of the Commission’s broader policy to take determined action on these schemes.
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