EU Court Orders Malta to Halt Distribution of Golden Passports
The Court of Justice of the European Union has upheld the European Commission's complaint and ordered Malta to end its ‘golden passport’ programme, which provides for the possibility of obtaining citizenship in exchange for investment.
The Gaze reports on this with reference to Reuters.
The EU Court of Justice on Tuesday announced a ruling in the case of Malta's golden passport programme and ordered the country to end it as contrary to EU law.
The programme provided that wealthy foreigners could obtain a Maltese passport in exchange for an investment of around €1 million in the country. Obtaining a Maltese passport automatically opens up the possibility of living in any EU country.
The European Commission filed a complaint against Malta in 2022, after launching a procedure in 2020 for violating EU law. Valletta insisted that it had the right to do so and correctly interpreted the EU Treaties.
The court noted that although member states have the full right to determine the procedure for granting or withdrawing their citizenship, Malta's golden passport programme violated the principle of mutual trust between member states.
‘A member state cannot grant its citizenship, and de facto EU citizenship with it, in exchange for certain payments or investments. This effectively turns the acquisition of citizenship into a commercial transaction... This practice does not allow for the necessary solidarity and trusting relationship between the Member State and its citizens and for mutual trust between Member States,’ the court said.
Earlier, Malta suspended the ‘golden passport’ programme for Russian and Belarusian citizens. This happened after Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine. At the same time, the country has kept the programme open to the rest of the world.
As The Gaze reported earlier, several Russian citizens under European Union and United States sanctions for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine have acquired Maltese passports through the country's controversial ‘golden visa’ programme.