Brussels opens file to Malta and Cyprus for 'golden passports'

The European Commission has taken a step forward on Tuesday in the matter of the so-called

, and has announced that it is formally opening infringement proceedings against Malta and Cyprus for their schemes for granting citizenship in exchange for investments.

These mechanisms, created in the harshest moments of the Great Recession as a way to attract foreign assets, raised the suspicions of Brussels from the beginning.

To date there had been exchanges of letters and political discussions with the Governments of Nicosia and Valletta, but the sending of the formal notification on Tuesday opens a process that could even end up in the European courts.

Following the notification, the States now have two months to give a detailed and convincing response to the Community Executive in order to slow down the process.

The Commission, as explained by one of its spokespersons at a press conference this afternoon, considers that when there is no “genuine link” between the foreign citizen and the EU country in question, the granting of nationality in exchange for a The sum of money undermines the principle of "sincere cooperation" and also the "integrity of the status of European citizenship", precepts contained in the EU Treaties.

In a January 2019 report, Brussels already questioned these programs as a possible back door through which wealthy people, but with a dark past and a trail of black money, could sneak into the EU.

"[These schemes] pose a risk to the Member States and the Union as a whole, in terms of security, money laundering, corruption and tax evasion," the dossier concluded.

The Brussels notice is one more step in trying to tackle a situation that was becoming unsustainable and whose tentacles and ramifications with the underworld could still go very far.

Just a week ago the Government of Cyprus announced that it was putting an end to these programs (whose most lax and questionable formula dates back to 2013 although they have existed since 2007) after the crude revelations of an

documentary

in which the participation of several Cypriot politicians in a corrupt plot of buying and selling European passports to foreigners with criminal records in their countries.

In Cyprus, for a foreigner to access nationality, a minimum investment of two million euros is required, in addition to having a property in the country, according to the Commission report.

Although there are no official figures, a 2018 European Parliament investigation estimated at 3,336 naturalizations acquired through these schemes since 2008 in Cyprus.

Despite the announcement by the Cypriot government to back down, and also by the Maltese, which has recently expressed its intention to modify the questioned systems, the Commission has decided to go ahead because "for the time being," the Commission spokesperson warned, " the schemes are still in force in the States concerned and could be replaced by similar investment systems ”.

Brussels also announced this morning that it has sent a letter to Bulgaria, where there is a similar program, which is something of a first warning.

"We have asked you to give us clear information," the spokesman said about this letter.

"You have a month to respond and the Commission will not hesitate to take action."

“At last!” German MEP Sven Giegold exclaims on the phone after hearing the news.

This economic and financial spokesman for the Greens has been battling against the schemes for years and considers the passage of Brussels a victory, albeit partial and late.

"European citizenship is not a commodity," he says.

And it contributes one of the keys to the matter: by obtaining the nationality of a country, that of the entire EU is also obtained, so the State that grants it would be committing “an abuse of sovereignty”.

"It involves a fraudulent use of freedom of movement for economic reasons," he adds. "You are doing business by selling access to the entire common market."

These schemes are different from those of investment by residence, the so-called

which countries such as Spain, Portugal and Greece have, which do not grant nationality or European citizenship, but a residence permit.

Giegold believes that nationality should not be marketed, but acquired "by integration" of people.

And he explains that his interest in the matter dates back to the leaks of the so-called

and the investigations of Daphne Caruana Galizia: the Maltese journalist murdered in a car bomb attack in 2017 who had been working for months on the succulent

in your country.

"She was critical of the program because people with criminal records are the most interested in having new passports, because with them a new identity is obtained," says the MEP.

In 2014 Malta began

European passports in exchange for a contribution of 650,000 euros to a national investment fund, in addition to another investment of 150,000 euros, and the requirement to buy or rent real estate, according to a Commission report. The MEP Giegold figures in more than 3,000 naturalizations of foreigners through the system. Last month, Keith Schembri, chief of staff of former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, was detained as part of an investigation into alleged bribery connected to the golden passport scheme. Caruana Galizia, before dying, had also pointed him out at the center of a corrupt plot.