As the EU launches legal action
against Cyprus and Malta’s so-called ‘golden passport’ schemes, we
compare Maltese, Irish, Cypriot, and Belgian articles on the
issue.
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Valletta of the law
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With infringement procedures
against Cyprus and Malta’s ‘golden passports’ now in motion, European
Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič emphasises the continuation
of “intensive contacts … to make sure European law in this area [is]
properly respected,” The
Times of Malta reports.
Šefčovič has defended the Commission as having “frequently raised its
concerns about those schemes with the member states concerned.” Last
month, Maltese officials arrested former Prime Minister Joseph
Muscat’s chief of staff in an ongoing probe into alleged kickbacks
within the scheme. Meanwhile, and in the wake of a damning Al-Jazeera
report into corruption and criminality, the Cypriot government has
announced that their own passport programme, which has brought the
island nation around 7 billion euros, will be terminated. Asked to
react to the EU announcement, Maltese PM Robert Abela told
journalists: “We will be defending Malta. Had it not been for the
contributions from that programme, we would probably not have been in
a position to present a budget of this scale.”
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Coming to a pretty passport
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Independent writes about the widespread corruption in
golden passport programmes. Cyprus says it will end its programme from
November 1, though the Commission notes the country plans to process
current applications. The Cypriot scheme was introduced in the wake of
a 2013 financial crisis that brought the country to the brink of
bankruptcy and forced it to accept a financial rescue programme from
creditors. Around 4,000 Cypriot passports have been issued to foreign
investors, many of whom are attracted by the prospect of being granted
automatic access to the entirety of the European Union. In Malta, the
programme was among the topics investigative journalist Daphne Caruana
Galizia had reported on before she was killed by a car bomb in 2017.
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International welcomed the
Commission's decision, saying the scheme served “corrupt interests,
not the common good."
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Reading the Cypriot Act
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Despite some assurances to the
contrary, the European Commission remains skeptical as to whether
Cyprus and Malta’s golden passport schemes will be terminated,
O Phileleftheros
reports. Commission
spokesperson Christian Wigand notes that, while Cyprus has committed
to its removal, “Malta […] intends to extend the programme … The
schemes remain in force in both Member States at the moment, and could
be replaced by similar investment schemes.” Wigand did not comment,
however, on why these infringement procedures have taken so long to
appear, nor on why other Member States with similar programmes are not
also being targeted. If these and other questions remain unanswered,
O Phileleftheros
suggests that one thing is
certain: now that Cyprus’s golden passport schemes have hit the
headlines, investors are being seriously discouraged from operating on
the island.
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Livin’ la visa loca
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The Brussels
Times outlines several
Member States involved in dubious passport programmes. Apart from
launching infringement procedures against Malta and Cyprus, the
Commission is also writing to Bulgaria to highlight its concerns
regarding an investor citizenship scheme and to request further
details. A study in 2018 showed that, in one or another form, Austria,
Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and candidate country
Montenegro have all offered Golden Visa schemes with investments
ranging from €250,000 to €10 million. Recent legal developments are
therefore “an important and overdue step in the fight against money
laundering and corruption in Europe,” MEP Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA)
commented. Yesterday, the European Parliament held a debate on
‘Serious security threats through the sale of EU passports and visas
to criminals.’ The Parliament has called for a ban on commercial
citizenship sales across Europe.
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