European Union law doesn’t stop Malta doling out EU citizenship to rich foreign investors, an adviser at the bloc’s top court said in a case that could set the bar for so-called golden passport programs across the region.
The tiny island nation’s cash-for-citizenship offer, which grants nationality to the wealthy, among them Russian oligarchs, celebrities and millionaire sports stars, was wrongly attacked by the EU’s executive arm, according to Anthony Collins, an advocate general at the EU’s Court of Justice.
He said European Commission lawyers “failed to prove” that EU law requires there to be genuine links between a member state and a passport applicant. He said it’s for EU countries themselves to “determine who is entitled to be one of their nationals and, as a consequence, who is an EU citizen.” His opinion will guide the Luxembourg-based tribunal’s final ruling, which will come in a few months.
Malta’s investor citizenship program has allowed individuals to obtain citizenship so they can live and work there, with a minimum donation of €600,000 ($661,590). The required investments also include buying a house, and voluntary donations are encouraged.
As an EU nation, Maltese passports grant holders the freedom to live and work anywhere inside the 27-member bloc.
The Mediterranean island is one of a handful of European countries that have over recent years offered golden visas and passports, which gained popularity during the European debt crisis when nations started selling residency to attract foreign investment.
Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Hungary along with Malta were among those who launched such programs for the wealthy to get their hands on much-prized EU freedom of movement. But the offerings caused uproar from the commission, which claimed cash-for-citizenship schemes expose the bloc to money laundering and security risks.
In September 2022, the Brussels-based regulator filed a legal challenge against Malta’s program, claiming that “granting EU citizenship in return for pre-determined payments” is “not compatible with the principle of sincere cooperation enshrined” in the bloc’s rules.
That move came after a European Parliament report a year earlier said that the so-called investment migration industry had proven lucrative for Europe, where participating nations netted more than €21 billion between 2011 and 2019.