The European Union’s Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled on Tuesday, the the 29th of April, that Malta must end its golden passport scheme, which allows wealthy foreigners to buy nationality, because it violates EU law, according to Reuters and Politico.
The EU Commission took Malta to court in 2022 over the programme, which grants foreigners Maltese passports and thus the right to live and work in any EU country in exchange for an investment of around one million euros.
The Court said that while countries can decide how to grant or withdraw citizenship, the Maltese scheme undermines the trust between EU countries on which the common system depends.
“A Member State cannot grant its nationality – and indeed European nationality – in exchange for pre-determined payments or investments, since this essentially means that the acquisition of nationality becomes a mere commercial transaction,” the court said.
“Such a practice does not make it possible to establish the necessary bond of solidarity and good faith between a Member State and its citizens or to ensure mutual trust between Member States.”
The Court found that Malta had failed to comply with its obligations under the EU Treaties by setting up and implementing the golden passport scheme. Malta has repeatedly insisted that it interprets the EU Treaties correctly.
THE MALTESE GOVERNMENT HAS ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL COMPLY WITH TUESDAY’S RULING AND UPDATE ITS LEGISLATION ACCORDINGLY, LOCAL MEDIA REPORT.
“As always, the Maltese government respects the decisions of the courts,” a government statement said. “The legal implications of this judgment are currently being examined in detail so that the legal framework for citizenship can then be brought into line with the principles set out in the judgment.”
The Maltese government added that previous beneficiaries of the scheme would not be affected and pointed out that the scheme had raised hundreds of millions of euro.
At the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, it suspended the scheme for Russian and Belarusian nationals, but continued it for nationals of other nationalities.
The case was referred to the CJEU after years of disagreement with Malta over what changes to make to the programme. The EU Commission launched legal proceedings in October 2020, but this did not lead to any real change.
Malta’s golden passport scheme was the last one left in the bloc after Cyprus cancelled its programme in 2020 and Bulgaria in 2022.
Former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who introduced the programme in 2014, called Tuesday’s ruling politically motivated and accused European Parliament President Roberta Metsola of “working against our country” in a Facebook post.
Muscat is currently facing criminal proceedings in Malta for alleged corruption.