A ruling in favour of Malta’s Golden Passport Program could encourage other EU countries to relaunch or revive their citizenship-by-investment schemes, Eka Rostomashvili of the advocacy group Transparency International has said.
According to her, the possible revival of the citizenship-by-investment schemes could seriously undermine the anti-corrupt efforts that have been taken so far by the authorities, Schengen.News reports.
EU Advocate General of European Court of Justice Supports EU Golden Visa Programs
Recently, EU Advocate General Michael Collins said that European Union countries have the right to sell citizenship through the Citizenship-by-Investment Programs, provided they take steps to preserve their integrity through rigorous diligence.
Collins’ comments came in response to the Commission’s comments that Malta’s program violates the European Union rules.
The European Commission argued that the Golden Passport scheme of Malta goes against Article 30 and Article 4 (3) of the EU constitution.
Collins delivered an opinion related to the Golden Passport Program. In this regard, he made two points that raised hopes for other countries to continue their Golden Passport programs.
At first, he emphasised that the constitutional definition of European Union citizenship does not refer to genuine links. He argued that this requirement was made up by politicians within the bloc after the fact and had no legally binding force.
Second, he revealed that Declaration No. 2 of the Treaty on EU reserves questions of nationality to EU countries.
According to Collins, EU countries have the right to sell their citizenship, provided they take measures to preserve their integrity through rigorous due diligence.
Therefore, he recommended that the European Court of Justice drop the case against Malta.
Cyprus & Bulgaria Terminated Their Golden Passport Programs
The Golden Passport programs allow a large number of internationals to acquire citizenship in countries that run such schemes in exchange for financial contributions and meet the needed conditions that differ among the countries.
In spite of making significant financial contributions to the countries’ economies, these schemes are often in the spotlight of reports related to their involvement in illicit acts, tax evasion, corruption and money laundering, among others.
Therefore, the European Commission has often called the countries that offer such schemes to terminate them as soon as possible.
Following reports related to its involvement in irregular affairs provided by Al Jazeera, Cyprus ended its Golden Passport. Bulgaria also made a similar decision in 2022.
Source: https://schengen.news/there-is-a-big-risk-of-golden-passport-programs-coming-back-to-eu-countries-transparency-international-warns/
