MEPs from the TAX 3 Commission sought answers to the lack of transparency of golden visas at a public hearing of representatives of the NGO Global Witness and the OECD on Monday 15 October.
Golden visas are common programmes in the EU, which allow the third-country national to quickly obtain a residence permit, or even the nationality of a Member State, in return for a substantial personal investment in the host country.
At least twelve Member States - Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom - use these programmes, the opacity of which has been repeatedly pointed out by NGOs, which also accuse them of causing risks of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion (see EUROPE 12114, 11974).
Exchange of tax information
"The lack of exchange of information may lead to an individual whose application has been refused in one Member State subsequently obtaining the nationality of another Member State and therefore European citizenship", pointed out Jeppe Kofod (S&D, Denmark), co-rapporteur on the subject, who called for a strengthening of the duty of diligence of States and the extension of the automatic information exchange mechanism to golden visas.
"This extension would at least allow us to know the origin of candidates for golden visas", confirmed Philip Kerfs of the OECD.
Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, France) approved this initiative and announced the publication of a Green report on the shortcomings of the fight against money laundering.
Impact on the economy
When asked about the impact of these programmes on the real economy, Rachel Owens of Global Witness said that "it (was) impossible to measure because of a lack of information".
However, Portuguese Ana Gomes (S&D) cited the example of her country where golden visa applicants must invest in real estate to obtain their residence permit. "This mechanism empties large Portuguese cities of their inhabitants and has a negative impact on the real economy", she denounced.
The European Commission is expected to issue a long-awaited report on the subject before the end of 2018. "We are also trying to get information, and it is indeed complicated”, said Monika Mosshammer of the European Commission's DG Justice. (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal)