EU takes Malta to court over golden passport programme

The European Commission said on Thursday it would file a legal challenge against Malta for its so-called golden passport programme that allows wealthy foreigners to buy citizenship in exchange for an investment of around 1 million euros ($970,000).
Holding a Maltese passport allows them to live and work in any EU country.
The Commission said in a statement, in recent months, Malta suspended the programme for Russian and Belarusian nationals following the start of the war in Ukraine, but it continues to operate the scheme for all other nationalities and “has not expressed any intention to end it.”
Brussels believes the scheme is in breach of EU law because citizenship is granted without any real obligation for the beneficiaries to live in the country.
The referral of the case to the EU Court of Justice comes after years of wrangling with Malta about tweaks to the scheme. The Commission said, an infringement procedure about the programme was initiated by the EU Commission in October 2020, but led to no tangible changes.
Pressure from Brussels has led to the suspension or abolition of golden passport schemes in other EU countries, with Cyprus and Bulgaria being the latest to halt their programmes.