While Malta suspended the scheme for Russian and Belarusian citizens following the invasion of Ukraine, recipients before the ban took effect included sanctioned Russian businesspeople, according to media reports.
Malta’s government said it would comply with Tuesday’s ruling and update its laws accordingly, according to local media.
“As always, the government of Malta respects the decisions of the courts,” the government said in a statement. “At this moment the legal implications of this judgment are being studied in detail, so that the regulatory framework on citizenship can then be brought in line with the principles outlined in the judgment.”
The Maltese government added that past recipients of the scheme would not be affected and said the scheme had raised hundreds of millions of euros.
A spokesperson for the Commission welcomed the ruling. “European citizenship is not for sale,” the spokesperson said Tuesday. “We expect Malta to comply with this decision and apply it accordingly.”
The spokesperson also called for all similar schemes in the bloc to be abolished. Cyprus and Bulgaria have halted their own golden passport programs, with Nicosia revoking some of the passports it had handed out, mostly to Russians.
The court’s decision was celebrated by NGOs. “Today’s judgement confirms that member states cannot commodify EU citizenship and operate reckless golden passport programmes,” Transparency International CEO Maíra Martini said in a statement.
Former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who introduced the program in 2014, called Tuesday’s ruling politically motivated and accused European Parliament President Roberta Metsola of “working against our country” in a Facebook post. Muscat is currently being prosecuted in Malta for alleged corruption.