On Wednesday, July 2, professors and younger academics gathered for the second joint “Current Hour” of the Max Planck Institutes for Social Law and Social Policy and for Tax Law and Public Finances to discuss the recent ECJ judgement on “golden passports” from Malta.
At the end of April this year, the European Court of Justice upheld a complaint by the EU Commission (Ref. C-181/23) and ruled that Malta may no longer offer Maltese citizenship in exchange for financial investment, as these so-called “golden passports” also grant EU citizenship, including extensive freedom of movement and social and political rights. However, a pure purchase relationship between the state and the citizen is not sufficient to obtain European citizenship and is contrary to fundamental principles that apply to all EU member states, according to the judgement.
In their joint presentation, Felix Deser (MPI SOC) and Roberto Ramos (MPI TAX) highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of the current ECJ judgment and raised the question: How much leeway remains for national naturalization regulations, and to what extent does membership of the European Union give rise to a further obligation in the sense of a stricter interpretation of the law? This led to a profound discussion, including on the interpretation of EU citizenship.
The “Current Hour” offers researchers the opportunity to present current topics or ongoing research projects and discuss them with colleagues – an expert is always invited as well. In this case, we were able to benefit from the expertise of two additional professors: Professor Ruth Mason from the University of Virginia, who is currently cooperating with the two institutes as a Max Planck Law Fellow, has worked extensively on citizenship and tax obligations. Professor Kai A. Konrad, Director of the Department of Public Finance at MPI TAX, is co-author of a central paper on “golden passports” in the EU from a political economy perspective. The paper can be found at the following link:
Konrad, Kai A., Rees, Rey (2020); Passports for sale: the political economy of conflict and cooperation in a meta-club. European Journal of Political Economy, 62. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101855
July 2025