POLICY PAPER: Citizenship and residency by investment in the EU

In her policy paper, our research assistant Rose Hartwig-Peillon addresses the issue of granting citizenship and residency. Hartwig-Peillon calls for a major redesign of the existing programs and for an EU-wide debate on the schemes at the occasion of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Whilst the granting of citizenship and residence rights remain a national competence, they represent a challenge for the entire Union. Indeed, in addition to being ethically questionable, Residency and Citizenship by Investment (RCBI) schemes pose a serious security threat to the European Union as a whole. The evidence gathered suggests that companies specializing in citizenship consultancy have become experts in exploiting the schemes’ loopholes, using this knowledge on behalf of their clients to circumvent EU rules. The lack of transparency of the programs allows corruption to bloom and thrive, and the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to increase the demand for such schemes. Hence, this paper calls for a major redesign of the existing programs and for an EU-wide debate on the schemes at the occasion of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

You can find the whole policy paper under the PDF button below.

Rose Hartwig-Peillon
Research Assistant