Valletta, Mar. 2, (dpa/GNA) – Malta on Wednesday said it was suspending its citizenship and residency schemes for Russian and Belarusian applicants, saying due diligence checks “cannot be carried out effectively in the current scenario.”
The Maltese government said that the suspension, effective immediately, would halt processing for any such applicants. Residency renewal applications would be considered on a case-by-case basis and involve fresh compliance checks, it said.
Malta is one of a handful of EU member states to offer a so-called “golden passport” scheme for wealthy investors. It also operates a similar scheme offering Maltese residency.
The country has come under increasing pressure in recent days to close its citizenship scheme to Russian applicants, following that country’s invasion of Ukraine, but had so far resisted doing so.
Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo has said that none of the oligarchs listed on EU sanctions lists had obtained Maltese citizenship or residency and said that many Russian applicants were seeking to flee Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
“The top oligarchs don’t come to Malta,” Bartolo argued. “They go to where the big guys are. To London and other European capitals.”
The government minister responsible for Malta’s golden passport scheme has also argued that Malta’s scheme “is not a golden passport” due to residency requirements included within it.
Malta is currently locked in a legal battle with the European Commission over the scheme, which wants to close off avenues by which the wealthy can buy entry into the EU and its financial systems. Malta insists that citizenship is a matter of national sovereignty.
GNA