There is a country in the European Union that still grant its citizenship, and therefore the EU, in exchange for large investments. This is the small island of Malta, which continues to carry on the controversial scheme of the so -called “gold passport”, despite the continuous calls of Brussels.
Yesterday (Tuesday 29 April) the European Court of Justice also established that Valletta must end its program which allows wealthy foreigners to buy citizenship, as it violates EU right.
The legal battle
The European Commission brought Malta to court in 2022 for the law that grants foreigners a passport, and therefore the right to live and work in any EU country, in exchange for an investment of about 1 million euros.
The Court said that Member States can decide how to grant or revoke citizenship, but that the Malta regime has eroded the principle of mutual trust between the Member States of the Union. “A Member State cannot grant its citizenship – and in fact European citizenship – in exchange for predetermined payments or investments, since this is essentially equivalent to making the acquisition of citizenship a mere commercial transaction,” said the Court.
“Such a practice does not allow to establish the necessary link of solidarity and good faith between a Member State and its citizens, nor to guarantee mutual trust between Member States”. Malta,- who repeatedly insisted on the correctness of his own interpretation of the EU treaties, said he respects the courts and to be studying how to align their rules on citizenship to the sentence.
Malta’s reasons
Valletta added that since 2015 the program has generated over 1.4 billion euros and thus financed investments in social housing, health, sports and culture. The country suspended the program only for Russian and Belarusian citizens after the start of the war in Ukraine, but is still in force for all the others. The Commission welcomed the sentence. “European citizenship is not on sale,” said a spokesperson.
Malta is the last EU member country with a citizenship program for investors, since the other country that had one, Cyprus, has stopped accepting new questions at the end of 2020 and is now investigating the citizens previously granted, said the spokesperson. Bulgaria has instead abolished its program in April 2022. They are still in force in different nations instead schemes that allow you to obtain not citizenship, but a residence permit, thanks to investments. Among these there is also Italy.
