The European Parliament called on Wednesday for an end to the allocation of "golden passports" in Europe.
These mechanisms for granting nationality to rich investors, especially Russians, are particularly pointed out with the war in Ukraine.
These passports, which exist in Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria, “are ethically, legally and economically unacceptable” and “undermine the very essence of European citizenship”, criticized MEPs.
The device also raises security issues, noted the elected officials.
Concerned that EU citizenship is for sale, Parliaments proposes new common rules to address the many problems linked to citizenship/residence by investment schemes ↓
— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) March 10, 2022
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Malta suspends its golden passports
Elected officials are also asking for common rules at European level on “golden visas”.
The latter grant, on the same principle, residence permits.
This system of "residence by investment" currently exists in twelve Member States.
The Russians are particularly among the beneficiaries of these schemes.
The European Parliament has accordingly asked countries to immediately exclude all Russian applications and to reconsider applications approved in recent years.
On March 2, Malta already announced the suspension until further notice of the granting of "golden passports" to Russian and Belarusian nationals.
A bill adopted in Bulgaria
“We urge the European Commission to comply with the legislative proposal.
So far, she has done practically nothing,” lamented Dutch MEP Sophia In't Veld, rapporteur for the text, at a press conference.
“By 2025, there should be no more golden passports.
»
Brussels has repeatedly expressed concern about the existence of golden passports, suspected of encouraging corruption and money laundering.
Infringement procedures against Cyprus and Malta were launched at the end of 2020, without follow-up.
In Bulgaria, the new government passed a bill in January aimed at abolishing these devices.
According to figures from the European Parliament, at least 130,000 people benefited from a golden passport or a golden visa between 2011 and 2019. This represents an income of more than 21.8 billion euros for the countries concerned.
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