The European Union Court has upheld the European Commission’s complaint and ordered Malta to end its “golden passport” program, which allowed individuals to obtain citizenship in exchange for investments.
On Tuesday, the EU Court announced its decision in the case regarding Malta’s “golden passport” program and ruled that the country must cease it as it violates EU law.
The program allowed wealthy foreigners to obtain Maltese citizenship by investing around €1 million in the country. Acquiring Maltese citizenship automatically granted the right to live in any EU country.
The European Commission filed a complaint against Malta in 2022 after initiating a procedure in 2020 for breaching EU legislation. Malta insisted that it had the right to offer such a program and was correctly interpreting the EU Treaties. However, the Court noted that while member states have the full right to determine the procedures for granting or revoking their citizenship, Malta’s “golden passport” scheme violated the principle of mutual trust between EU member states.
“A member state cannot grant its citizenship, and thus de facto EU citizenship, in exchange for certain payments or investments. This effectively turns citizenship acquisition into a commercial transaction… Such practices fail to establish the necessary solidarity and trust between a member state and its citizens and undermine mutual trust between member states,” the Court stated.
