April 29 European Court passed ruling that Malta’s “golden passport” program, which grants citizenship to wealthy investors, violates EU citizenship rules. According to the court, citizenship of an EU member state cannot be the result of a commercial agreement.
The program allowed foreigners to obtain Maltese citizenship and, with it, an EU passport without having any real ties to the country, in exchange for an investment of approximately €1 million. The court found this practice illegal, describing it as “selling EU citizenship”, and ordered Malta to end the program and cover all legal costs.
In 2019, the European Commission announced its intention to strengthen the control of similar schemes in a number of European countries, including Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta. The EC expressed concerns that new citizens could use European passports for money laundering, tax evasion and corruption schemes, and noted that some countries do not properly vet new citizens.
Malta remained the last country in the EU to sell citizenship in exchange for investment. Among those who took advantage of this scheme were citizens of Russia, who are under EU and US sanctions due to the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
We will remind that in November 2024, the government of Cyprus canceled the “golden passports” of 77 foreign investors, among whom were legal and auditing companies through which documents were issued, as well as Ukrainian and Russian businessmen.
