“Golden Passport” plans are violated by deep foreign investors in the European Union Law, the highest Bloc court on Tuesday, after a legal challenge against Malta by Brussels.
“The acquisition of trade union citizenship cannot result from a commercial deal,” said the European Union’s Justice Court.
Brussels Malta was transferred to the Supreme Court in 2022 on the program, which allows non-Europe to purchase Maltese-and thus the European Union-the Nationality through specific payments or investments.
On Tuesday’s decision, Malta must comply or risk huge fines.
“The member state cannot grant its nationality – European citizenship – in fact – in exchange for pre -defined payments or investments, because this mainly amounts to a citizenship acquisition merely a commercial treatment,” the court said.
Although the court emphasized that every member state has the right alone to take a decision on nationality, this was freedom “to be practiced in accordance with the European Union law.”
The court said that the Maltese plan “violates the principle of sincere cooperation and weakens mutual confidence between member states related to granting their nationality.”
The rich Russians and Chinese used the planned to obtain the nationality of the European Union from Malta.
There were similar plans in Cyprus and Bulgaria, but these countries later dropped them.
Malta excluded Russian and cellular requests from “gold passports” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when Europe erupted on the individuals associated with the Kremlin.
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-2008022864-e1745921131736.jpg?resize=1200,600
Source link