On Wednesday 9 March, MEPs adopted – by 595 votes to 12 with 74 abstentions – a resolution by Sophie in 't Veld (Renew Europe, Netherlands) on citizenship and residence for investment programmes.
The report calls for an outright ban on “golden passports” and strict control over “golden visas” (see EUROPE 12891/7). The former allows investors to obtain EU citizenship in exchange for making investments in the relevant member country. The latter only offers a residence permit. While several sets of sanctions against Russian oligarchs have recently been adopted, Ms in 't Veld, rapporteur on the dossier, is of the opinion that “it is the duty of the European Commission to act” on this issue.
A large proportion of the passports that were granted in exchange for investments in the EU, have been granted to Russians. This is also why MEPs adopted an amendment on 8 March calling on Member States “to reassess all applications made by Russian nationals that have been approved in recent years and [...] to ensure that no Russian person with financial or business links to Putin's regime retains or is able, at least temporarily, to exercise his or her citizenship and residence rights”.
During the debate held on the resolution in plenary on 7 March, EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said that the idea of a legislative proposal would need to be analysed carefully, “in terms of legal and political feasibility”.
Ms in 't Veld said she was “disappointed” by this response. “ Member States cannot be relied upon to understand that golden passports and visas have to be abolished. It must also be recognised that this forms an important source of income for some small countries”, she told the press.
On 2 March, Malta said it was suspending applications for “golden” passports and visas for Russian and Belarusian nationals, but not for other nationalities (see EUROPE 12902/10). Cyprus had previously announced in 2020 that it would suspend its scheme to obtain residency and citizenship by means of making investments. Both countries are, however, subject to infringement proceedings by the European Commission in relation to these programmes (see EUROPE 12737/33). Bulgaria, which also has a citizenship by investment scheme in place, is due to abolish it.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/nt (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)