EU parliament demands end to ‘golden passports’ for Russians
2022/03/15 Leave a comment
Long overdue, not just for Russians:
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to end the practice of EU countries selling citizenship and visas to rich individuals.
It comes in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with many wealthy Russians having received EU passports in exchange for significant investments.
Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday voted 595 for, 12 against and with 74 abstentions to end the so called ‘golden passport’ schemes.
They are calling for an all out ban on the purchase of citizenship by 2025 but want significantly increased background checks to come into force immediately.
The vote is however not binding. It is now up to the European Commission to outline a detailed proposal of how to end the schemes and then the EU’s national government will have the final say on the matter.
“The system of golden passports and visas carries with it inherent risks of tax evasion, corruption and money laundering.” said Saskia Bricmont MEP, a Green MEP from Belgium. “For too long oligarchs, criminals and corrupt politicians have had the ability to buy their way into Europe and launder their cash, image and identities.”
Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria are the EU countries which have run the most lucrative golden passportschemes.
It is estimated that in the eight-year period until 2019, over €20 billion of investments came into EU countries in this manner.
“The time of asking national governments nicely is over,” said Dutch MEP Sophie In’t Veldt during the European Parliament debate. “[We need] the total complete abolition of this procedure, not simply to reduce it but to completely eliminate it.”
Members of the European Parliament accepted in the report that the move would lead to shortfalls in national budgets and allowed for a phased out approach.
Values for sale
The report into the golden passports has been moving through the European Parliament for a while but came into focus when the schemes were specifically mentioned in a joint EU statement alongside the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, in the immediate hours after Russian invaded in Ukraine.
Source: EU parliament demands end to ‘golden passports’ for Russians