EU top court rules Maltese 'golden passport' scheme illegal
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that Malta’s investor citizenship scheme violates European Union law, declaring that “the acquisition of Union citizenship cannot result from a commercial transaction,” reports a Kazinform News Agency correspondent.
In its binding decision, the Court emphasized that while member states have the right to define the conditions for granting nationality, this power “must be exercised consistently with EU law.”
Citizenship, it further stressed, must be rooted in “a specific relationship of solidarity, good faith, and reciprocity of rights and duties between the State and its citizens” — a foundation fundamentally undermined when Malta granted nationality in direct exchange for financial contributions and investments.
The Maltese programme, launched in 2014 and amended in 2020, offered citizenship to foreign nationals meeting mainly financial conditions. The Commission initiated legal action, arguing the scheme created naturalisation “without a genuine link with Malta,” thus infringing Union citizenship rules and “the principle of sincere cooperation.”
The ECJ ruled that Malta’s operation of the scheme “amounts to the commercialisation of the grant of the nationality of a Member State and, by extension, of Union citizenship.” It added that “such a practice does not make it possible to establish the necessary bond of solidarity and good faith” and undermines “mutual trust between the Member States.”
Criticism of Malta’s scheme intensified after revelations that sanctioned Russian nationals had obtained Maltese citizenship. In response, Malta suspended applications from Russian and Belarusian nationals in 2022.
Following the ruling, former Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat defended the scheme, calling the Court’s decision “a political sentence.” However, organizations like Transparency International and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation hailed the judgment as a victory for EU citizens’ rights and called for the scheme’s full abolition.
Malta is now obligated to comply with the Court’s judgment without delay, with the European Commission able to seek financial penalties if compliance is not forthcoming.
Earlier, Kazinform News Agency reported that President Donald Trump had announced plans to introduce a “$5 million gold card” for wealthy foreigners, granting them the right to live and work in the United States with a path to citizenship.