The House of Representatives plenary approved a law and regulation amending the Civil Registry Law as well as the regulations on honorary citizenships, in a session marked by fierce clashes over responsibility for the now-abolished Cyprus Investment Programme (CIP), otherwise known as ‘golden passports’ scheme.
The aim is to end the EU’s infringement case against Cyprus while introducing stricter review and transparency requirements for citizenship revocations.
The law abolishes the provision that allowed the Council of Ministers to grant Cypriot citizenship to investors, entrepreneurs and their family members under CIP and establishes procedures for reviewing actions taken under the programme. At the same time, it introduces a 60-day deadline for lodging an appeal with the Independent Committee for the Examination of Revocation of Citizenship and an obligation to publish in the Official Gazette the names of those whose citizenship is revoked.
The changes are deemed necessary to end the infringement procedure launched by the EU in 2020, and eliminate any possibility of reinstating an investment-based naturalisation scheme.
The regulations on honorary citizenship provide, among other things, for the possibility of granting Cypriot citizenship to the children of Greek soldiers killed in 1974, as well as for individuals in the arts and culture who have made an exceptional contribution to Cyprus. The competent body for submitting recommendations will now be the Deputy Ministry of Culture.
Mixed feelings on Cabinet citizenships ending
Chairman of the Interior Committee, AKEL MP Aristos Damianou, said: “We are shooting ourselves in the foot,” noting that Parliament is removing from the state the right to grant citizenship by exception on grounds of public interest. He stressed that the amendment is being imposed due to EU pressure, as the Republic of Cyprus risks referral to the EU Court of Justice.
“Today we are holding the political memorial service for the golden passports programme,” he said, adding that Parliament is being asked to clean up the mess of the previous government.
He added that a total of 7,329 individuals obtained Cypriot citizenship through the CIP, including 3,522 investors – some of whom never set foot in Cyprus – and 3,807 family members, even in cases involving more than one spouse. The programme, he said, may have contributed somewhat to the economy, but the damage to the Republic was “irreparable”.
DISY MP Nikos Sykas argued that the investment programme was terminated due to actions and bad practices of the AKEL government – which was last in power in 2013. He called on critics to admit how helpful the programme was at a critical time for the country, though some exploited it.
Independent Nicosia MP Alexandra Attalides said the programme had “rotten foundations from the start” and was designed deliberately in a way that allowed exploitation by political figures who enriched themselves. Cyprus lost much of its political capital abroad due to the CIP, she said, adding that it will take “a very long time” to regain it.
Source: CNA