Newly appointed president of the European parliament Roberta Metsola has called on member states to put an end to citizenship-by-investment (CBI) schemes.
While addressing the European Council on 24 February 2022 in an emergency summit following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Metsola deemed “outrageous” and a move of “authoritarianism against democracy”, she also took aim at CIB programmes.
In her speech, she said: “Let me say that the Kremlin has long thought it could buy its way into Europe.
“It is time to close any loopholes, end the dangerous phenomenon of golden passports that provide a backdoor to European citizenship and ensure that Russian money does not become as critical as Russian gas.
“At the end of the day, this is how we achieve our strategic autonomy.”
A history of disapproval
The EU has been critical of so-called ‘golden visa’ programmes for years, as they posed security threats for the entire bloc following several scandals of dubious practices and passports being awarded to people linked to organised crime and/or money laundering.
They have also been very popular among Russians and Chinese wealthy individuals.
For instance, Cyprus’ CBI scheme was halted in 2020 after ‘weaknesses’ in the system were highlighted by media reports, leading to a full inquiry into the programme in 2021 which found that over half of passports had been approved “illegally”.
The EU also took legal action against Cyprus’ and Malta’s golden visas via an infringement procedure in 2020.
