Today, the European Parliament’s TAX3 cross-party committee adopted a damning report calling for Golden Visa schemes to be phased out. The vote was nearly unanimous, and follows the Commission’s recognition of the serious security and corruption risks the schemes create for Member States. Parliament’s announcement here.
In response, Rachel Owens, Head of EU Advocacy at Global Witness said:
“With the European Parliament’s cross-party committee voting overwhelmingly to condemn the sale of European passports and visas, they join the Commission in recognising the risk of these schemes granting EU-wide safe haven to the corrupt. It is now time for the Commission and Member States to suspend the sale of golden visas until they can prove they will no longer expose EU citizens to criminality. This clear consensus should focus minds ahead of EU elections, and make sure Europe is not longer courting such huge security and corruption risks.”
/ ENDS
Contacts
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Rachel Owens
Head of EU Office and EU Advocacy / Directrice du Bureau (UE). Campaign Lead on Corporate Accountability
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