MEPs debate and vote on ‘citizenship by investment’ schemes, under which third country nationals can get so-called ‘golden passports’. These ones are objectionable ethically, legally, and economically. They also pose serious security risks while undermining the essence of EU citizenship, and should be banned. According to the draft text, third countries with visa-free access to the EU should also end their ‘golden passports’ schemes. Meanwhile, on 25 February in light of Putin’s attack on Ukraine, the leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Canada, and the US committed to taking measures to limit the access of wealthy Russians (with ties to the government) to ‘golden passports’.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

vote

LÓPEZ AGUILAR, Juan Fernando (S&D, ES)

LENAERS, Jeroen (EPP, NL)

IN 'T VELD, Sophia (Renew, NL)

REYNDERS, Didier (BE, EC)

European citizenship (T2)

BRICMONT, Saskia (Greens/EFA, BE)

JOHANSSON, Ylva (SE, EC)

Citizenship and residence by investment schemes: extracts from the debate, extracts from the press conference and results of the vote

Title: Citizenship and residence by investment schemes: extracts from the debate and results of the vote

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN &apos;T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, Today, the war in Ukraine puts the spotlight on this problem. Russians are the largest group of third country nationals that have obtained golden passports and golden visas in the EU, many of them oligarchs with links to Putin's Kremlin.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN &apos;T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, First, we want to phase out golden passports, no more sale of citizenship. Second, we call for very strict regulation of the golden visa to the point that they will lose their attractiveness for careless opportunists. Background checks shall be tightened. Intermediary shall be strictly regulated, and a requirement of physical presence shall be strictly enforced.

SOUNDBITE (French), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice, European values are not for sale, selling citizenship through what's sometimes called golden passports is a serious risk, as the Commission has confirmed at a number of occasions. It poses security risk, corruption risk as well as a money laundering risk, and tax evasion risk.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, But this is not only about Russia and not only about this terrible war. EU residents, EU citizenship are amongst our greatest assets, giving access to our union, our area of freedom, security and justice treasured around the world. And this valuable commodity is sold cheaply. You can buy EU residents in some member states for 500 000 euro, a lot of money for an ordinary person, but peanuts for organised crime. It's time to act.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeroen LENAERS (EPP, NL), Both commissioners today said it's time to act. I say better late than never because those words need to be put into action and not only temporarily or for the short term. We need a long term solution. In that regard, the call of Roberta Metsola, our president, directly on the leaders of Europe to close these loopholes and end the dangerous phenomenon of golden passports was very important, and we must ban the sale of EU passports and stop the flow of dirty Russian money into the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Juan Fernando L&#211;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria, but many other EU member states have these schemes. The privileged acquisition of residence, which allows free movement and opens ways to get EU citizenship for whoever would like to buy it. Using money from corrupt business, from tax evasion, from illicit business. This is not just abject, it's immoral and it is a complete contradiction of European values.

SOUNDBITE (French), Saskia BRICMONT (Greens/EFA, BE), Eight years ago, the Parliament was already asking for a ban on golden passports, and that would have closed the door to Russian interference in Europe. The reality today, however, is that the war has caught up with us and shows how urgent this is. Member states in the Commission haven't had the political will to deal with this so far. They have to abolish this in the next three years, regulate golden visas so that they're less attractive, regulates the financial intermediaries who benefit from this system. European Union cannot serve oligarchs and other undesirables. That time is up. Citizenship in Europe is not for sale.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN &apos;T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, What you see now is that somebody will buy invest in property. In other words, they buy a shack in the meadow somewhere. They pay half a million. And that grants them access to the European Union. So it isn't about legitimate investment. We're not banning all the visas, but we're regulating them so strictly that we know absolutely sure that they will attract only legitimate investment and not people who just want to buy their way into the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN &apos;T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, I repeat, the fact that the European Commission has an obligation to act on the basis of the treaties. There is the promise of Mrs von der Layen plus very, very, very strong support from the European Parliament. And against the backdrop of what we have witnessed over the last two weeks, I really see no reason why the Commission should not act. And we've done their homework. We've made all the proposals. All they need to do is write it down, elaborated a little bit, and it will get broad support in this house. So I would say, dear Commission, don't waste any time and implement this.

Results of the vote 681 voted 595 in favor - 12 against - 74 abstention