The Price of EU Citizenship
| Published date | 01 September 2014 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1402100302 |
| Date | 01 September 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
406 21 MJ 3 (2014)
THE PRICE OF EU CITIZENSHIP
e Maltese Citizenship-for-Sale A air and
the Principle of Sincere Cooperation in
Nationality Matters
S C*
ABSTRACT
How much does European citizenship cost in the EU ? is was the que stion that has raised
so much controversy over the Maltese citiz enship-for-sale programme. e outr ight selling
of Maltese nationality to rich foreigners led to unprecedented responses by the European
Parliament and European Commission. is paper examines the a air and its relevance
for current and future con gurations of citizenship of the EU. It studies the extent to
which Member States are still free to lay down the ground s for the acquisition and loss
of nationality without any EU supervision and accountability. It is argued that the EU’s
intervention in the Maltese citizen ship-for-sale a air constitutes a legal precedent for
assessing the lawfuln ess of passport-for-sale programmes in other EU Member States. e
a air has also revealed the increasing relevance of a set of European and international
legal principles limiting Member States’ discret ion over citizenship matters and providing
a supranational constellation of accountability venues scrutinizing the impact of their
decisions over citizenship. e Maltese citizenship-for-sale a air has pl aced at the forefront
the EU general principle of sincere cooperation in nationality matters. Member States’
actions in the citizenship domain cannot negatively a ect in substance the concept and
freedoms of European citizenship.
* Sergio Carre ra is Senior Resea rch Fellow and Head of the Ju stice and Home A airs Section at t he Centre
for European Policy St udies (CEPS), Brussels. e author would like to rst express his g ratitude to
Prof. Elspeth G uild (Radboud University of Nijmege n and CEPS) and Prof. René de Groot (Universit y
of Maastricht) for the ir comments on a previou s dra o f th is pa per . is paper is a revis ed and shortened
version of a previously-publi shed report falling w ithin the framework of the I LEC (Involuntary Loss
of European Citi zenship) project, fu nded by European Com mission, and coord inated betwee n the
Faculty of Law of t he University of Maastr icht and CEPS.
e Price of EU Citizen ship
21 MJ 3 (2014) 407
Keywords: citiz enship for sale; European cit izenship; general pri nciples; genuine link;
sincere cooperation
§1. IN T RODUC T IO N
e Maltese citizenship-for-sale a air has attracted much attention since its incept ion
at the end of 2013. e announcement by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government
of an amendment to the Maltese Cit izenship Act introducing a n investor citizenship
programme led to controversy bot h in domestic and Europea n circles. Under the
programme, the sole requi rement for foreigners to obtain Maltese nationa lity consisted
of donating to the state or by investing a subst antial amount in t he country. e case
further presented a n evident European dimension. What Ma lta was actually plann ing to
put on sale was not only its own nationalit y, but also the supranational st atus enshrined
in citizenship of t he European Union. Any person holdin g the nationality of a Member
State is a European citi zen and enjoys the rights at tached to it, such as the free dom to
move and reside within t he territory of the Union. e hea rt of the debates surrounding
the adequacy of the Malte se initiative has been t he extent to which the European
institutions, and i n particul ar the European Com mission, could legally i ntervene and
prevent the Maltese government from introduci ng the scheme.
From an EU law prespective, the cas e was a di c ult one to argue. Q uestions related
to the acquisition and loss of national ity have remained in the ambit of Member State’s
exclusive competence since the kick-o of EU citizenship in 1993 with the entry
into force of the Maastricht Treaty. One of the most sacred of cows in the division
of competences between the Member States a nd the EU is the entitlement to control
citizenship laws. No one can b ecome a EU citizen without rst passi ng through the
hands of a Member State. Since the int roduction of EU citizenship, a number of
Member States have been exceedingly a nxious to keep the EU out of their citizenship
laws and policies.1 Since then, citizenship has been someth ing of a ‘hands-o ’ area for
EU law.
Something fu ndamental has changed over the last 20 years. e classic bound aries
delimiting Member States’ discretion over nationality laws have been reshaped as a
consequence of the emergence of a set of international principles, a nd legal and judicial
accountability venues overseeing their domestic actions. e deg ree of exclusivity
traditionally enjoyed by EU Member States has be en progressively re-modelled,
sometimes in unex pected ways. Moreover, while formally ke eping their autonomy in
the regulation of national ity issues, the Court of Justice of t he European Union (CJEU)
in Luxembou rg has on sever al occasion s held that nation al polic y and legislat ive
1 Declaration No. 2 a nnexed to the Treaty of Ma astricht on nationa lity of a Member State, Treaty on
European Union, [1992] OJ C191.
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