The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that investing substantial amounts in an EU country does not grant the right to obtain that country's citizenship or EU citizenship, rebuking Malta's investor citizenship programme.
In 2020, Malta revised the criteria for obtaining Maltese citizenship, allowing investors to apply for naturalisation if they met specific financial conditions. This enabled foreign investors, who had no previous ties to Malta, to gain citizenship in exchange for certain payments or investments.
The European Commission challenged this programme at the ECJ, arguing it violated EU citizenship regulations. The court has sided with the Commission.
The court emphasised that acquiring citizenship of an EU Member State requires "a specific bond of solidarity, loyalty, and reciprocity of rights and duties between the state and its citizens." It ruled that awarding nationality – and thus EU citizenship – through transactional procedures in exchange for pre-determined investments or payments clearly violates these principles.
Such "commercialisation" of citizenship, the court argued, effectively reduces the nationality of a Member State, and consequently EU citizenship, to a mere business transaction.
