EU launches legal action against Malta & Cyprus over the Golden Passports
Cyprus And Malta’Golden Passports” In A Bind With EU
Golden passport schemes by EU nations are essentially allowing people to buy their way into citizenship by investing or buying real estate property without having any real links to the country or even having to live in the country.
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EU launches legal action against Malta & Cyprus over the Golden Passports
0:00 – Cyprus and malta “golden passport” in a bind with EU
0:37 – Future of Cyprus and Malta’s golden passports
Citizenship in an EU member state comes with benefits enjoyed by any other citizen of any EU country which is the freedom to travel, live and work across the bloc, and even to vote in certain elections.
Last week, Cyprus announced that it will end their golden passport scheme after it was embroiled in controversy where a government official and a politician promised support to grant citizenship to a dubious individual with a criminal record.
EU has stated its stance that such schemes are a risk to security, to transparency, and to the values that strengthen the European Union.
01:37 – EU Taking legal action
Brussels has officially launched legal action against the EU countries of Cyprus and Malta over their “golden passport” schemes.
The schemes saw them grant nationality thus freedom to move around the 27-member bloc in exchange for money or investment.
EU Commission stated that this is a violation of EU law and are said to “undermine the integrity of the status of EU citizenship”.
The granting of E.U. citizenship for predetermined payments or investments without any genuine link with the member states concerned undermines the essence of E.U. citizenship. EU Commission stated
Malta and Cyprus have been given two months to reply to the letters from the European Commission, notifying them infringement proceedings had been launched
02:33 – Cyprus and Malta’s pledge
The Cypriot programme allowed non-Europeans to get a Cypriot passport for a minimum of €2.15 million by investing €2 million in real estate and donating €75,000 to the government’s research and development fund, and €75,000 to the country’s land development organisation.
Cyprus says it will end its passport programme on November 1. But the commission says Cyprus intends to continue processing pending applications.
Late on Tuesday, Malta also said it was ending its Malta Individual Investor Programme, saying in a press release it has “taken note of the concerns raised by the European Commission”.
However, it also said it “reiterates that citizenship is a member state competence, whereby every European country decides on its own who are the individuals which it believes should receive citizenship.”
03:32 – Countries that offer citizenship or residency in exchange for investment
Cyprus And Malta Are The Two Currently Under The EU’s Spotlight But There Is Also More Widespread Us
Cyprus and Malta are the two currently under the EU’s spotlight but there is more widespread use of investor residency schemes across the EU.
While residency doesn’t confer the same freedoms as citizenship in an EU country, it does give a person the right to reside in the country in question, and also to travel freely in the Schengen area.
Investor residency schemes are available in 19 member states, plus the United Kingdom.
Portugal was one of the first countries to use this so-called golden visas starting in 2012, followed by Cyprus, Malta and Bulgaria.
What are your thoughts on citizenship by investment crackdown by the EU? Comment Below
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