EU’s top court rules against Malta’s ‘golden passport’ programme

The programme “amounts to the commercialisation of the grant of the nationality of a member state and by extension that of union citizenship”, a judge at the court in Luxembourg said

Tue, 29 Apr, 2025 - 09:58

Sam McNeil, Associated Press

The European Court of Justice has ordered Malta to close its “golden passport” programme for violating European Union law, even after the Mediterranean island country suspended the programme for citizens of Russia and Belarus.

The programme “amounts to the commercialisation of the grant of the nationality of a member state and by extension that of union citizenship”, a judge at the court in Luxembourg said.