Brussels, May 13. (DPA/EP) –
Cyprus and Malta have revoked the ‘golden passport’ of 45 Russian nationals, a practice that consists of granting citizenship to non-EU citizens in exchange for investment in the country.
In the case of Malta, one of them is affected by the sanctions of the European Union and the other by those of the United States; the other 43 passports have been withdrawn by the Cypriot authorities, as announced by the European Union this Friday.
The European Commission has constantly called for the end of the ‘golden passports’ since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a request that both Bulgaria and Cyprus already comply with, which has also been withdrawing this type of passport since before the start of the war .
There is currently a legal process pending against Malta before the Court of Justice of the EU for continuing this practice, whose authorities have only excluded Russians and Belarusians.
Although member states can decide on the granting of citizenship and residence permits, the Commission sees it as a threat to the Schengen area in terms of security, money laundering, tax avoidance and corruption.
