Bepi Pezzulli exposes how Brussels is dressing up political power grabs as legal rulings to punish small states for thinking independently.
Brussels has discovered a new mortal sin: selling passports. Apparently, trading citizenship for cash is more scandalous than trading gas with Putin.
Malta’s now-defunct citizenship-by-investment scheme has been deemed illegal by the European Court of Justice, which ruled that the country “fails to fulfil its obligations” under EU law. A sovereign state, in the EU’s eyes, is sovereign only when it behaves as Brussels wants.
The ruling marks a sharp departure from the Treaties’ original spirit. There is nothing in EU primary law that prohibits naturalisation by investment—just as there is nothing prohibiting naturalisation for sporting prowess, university degrees, or vague national interest. The concept of a “genuine link” between applicant and state, as demanded by the Court, has no clear legal basis. It is the judicial version of vibes-based governance: a policy preference dressed up as legal principle.
Critics have rightly called out the overreach. The Investment Migration Council labelled the ruling a “robust departure from the rule of law”, warning that the EU is “dangerously distorting the boundaries of its legal competences”. Henley & Partners, a law firm, went further: “This ruling is not based on legal merit but rather political expedience.” The ECJ did not apply existing law—it invented one. Even the Court’s own Advocate General had advised against the decision, citing the lack of any requirement in EU law for such a link.
Malta has now been instructed to dismantle its MEIN programme, despite the fact that nationality remains—formally, at least—a matter of national competence. This is not legal integration; it is imperial centralism. It sends a clear signal to smaller Member States: your discretion is a threat, your independence a nuisance, and your policies subject to nullification if they offend the tastes of the European Commission.
The deeper message of this ruling is not about passports or the sanctity of citizenship. It is about power. Brussels has long used “sincere cooperation” as a euphemism for obedience. Now, with the MEIN ruling, it has set a precedent that allows it to regulate not just how states behave within the Union, but whom they admit to their citizenry. The concept of EU citizenship, once a secondary consequence of national citizenship, is being recast as a supranational status that limits national discretion at its root.
So much for diversity of models and subsidiarity. The Court has made clear that the only permissible citizenship is that which conforms to a Brussels-approved moral standard. It is a staggering development for a bloc that insists it defends liberalism. When the Union now speaks of values, it means conformity. When it claims to uphold law, it means power.
Europe claims to be a union of states. It is fast becoming a union of permission slips.
Bepi Pezzulli is a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales specialising in Governance as well as a Councillor of the Great British PAC.
Website: www.bepipezzulli.eu
Bepi tweets at @bepipezzulli
Main Image: For illustration purposes only. Image created on AI.
Malta will just have to do what Blair did with prisoner’s votes – ignore the ruling.