The European Parliament is expected to place renewed pressure on Member States to ban golden passports during next week’s plenary session being held in Strasbourg. A legislative initiative report approved by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs earlier this month has been placed as one of the early items in plenary’s agenda.
In this report, MEPs stressed that ‘citizenship by investment’ (CBI) schemes, under which third country nationals can get nationality rights in exchange for an investment, are “objectionable from an ethical, legal and economic point of view, and pose several serious security risks”. So-called ‘golden passports’ undermine the essence of EU citizenship and should be phased out, they insist.
The text calls for “a meaningful percentage” to be levied on the investments made, which would continue while the CBI is phased out, and indefinitely for ‘residence by investment’ (RBI) schemes, the so-called ‘golden visas’.
These proposals are expected to have wide resonance among the MEPs, with a number of interventions during a special plenary debate held yesterday on developments in the Ukraine focusing on this issue. Taking the cue from EP President Roberta Metsola, several MEPs argued that golden passports are objectionable from an ethical, legal and economic point of view, and pose several serious security risks. Others argued that such schemes undermine the essence of EU citizenship and should be phased out.
It is estimated that at least 130,000 persons have taken advantage of Citizenship or Residency by Investment in the EU between 2011 and 2019, which have generated over €21.8 billion in revenue for the countries concerned. Three member states have CBI schemes: Bulgaria (where the government has tabled a draft law to end the scheme), Cyprus (currently only processing applications submitted prior to November 2020) and Malta. Earlier this week, the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for this particular scheme, dismissed calls for a prohibition on Russian investors, insisting that “not all Russians are bad”.
Twelve member states have RBI schemes, all with diverging amounts and options of investment, as well as standards for checks and procedures.
Dutch MEP Sophia in ‘t Veld is expected to be one of the most vociferous proponents of a ban on golden passports. In a recent statement, the Renew MEP argued that “being an EU citizen or resident is at the core of what the Union embodies: freedom and rights. Citizenship is a right, not a commodity to be bought and sold. Member states’ governments sell what is not theirs to sell, exploiting the reputation of the EU for profit. Their cynical business is putting our common security in danger.”
