The Golden Passport Scheme violates European Union law as it deems illegal by the block

After Brussels’ legal challenge to Malta, the Bullock’s highest court was awarded Tuesday, a “golden passport” scheme for deeply-paid foreign investors violating European Union law, which violated European Union law.

“Acquisition of union citizenship cannot arise from commercial transactions,” the EU judicial court said it had found that Malta had violated EU law.

Brussels took Malta to the top court in 2022. This allows non-Europeans to effectively purchase Malta (and therefore the EU) through defined payments or investments.

Tuesday’s decision is binding and Malta must comply or endanger large fines.

“A Member States may not grant nationality in exchange for a given payment or investment.

The court emphasized that each member state has the right to determine nationality, but this was free “to be exercised in accordance with EU law.”

The Maltese scheme “violates the principle of honest cooperation and endangers mutual trust among member states regarding the granting of their nationality,” the court said.

The rich Russians and Chinese people used this scheme to acquire EU citizenship from Malta.

There were similar schemes in Cyprus and Bulgaria, but these countries later dropped them.

Malta has ruled out applications for Russia and Belarus’ “golden passports” following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when Europe cracked down on Kremlin-linked individuals.

This story was originally introduced Fortune.com