13/10/2020 (Agence Europe) – The Cypriot government announced on Tuesday 13 October that it would suspend its investment citizenship programme as of 1st November. The announcement comes after a new Al Jazeera investigation into the “Cyprus Papers” (see EUROPE 12544/17), which revealed how high-ranking Cypriot politicians have been involved in selling “golden passports” to convicted non-European citizens with criminal records. The Cypriot programme has long been in the sights of the European Commission (see EUROPE 12178/2). The institution noted on Tuesday that it is currently examining whether the Cypriot programme conforms with EU law and they may decide to launch an infringement proceeding (see EUROPE 12548/9). However, the European Commission has not indicated whether suspending the programme would prevent such a procedure from being initiated. For the time being, this is only an announcement and not a firm and final decision, said the European Commission spokesperson, Eric Mamer. (MF)