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Cyprus was feeling victimised again this week – it’s a common thread – over some nasty report from the European Commission suggesting that Nicosia is in the unscrupulous business of selling EU passports to the highest bidder.
How could our friends in Brussels say such hurtful things about the well-meaning Cyprus government that is just trying to raise some cash to make ends meet.
Brussels isn’t quite sure what to do with Cyprus, Malta and Bulgaria for allowing filthy rich non-EU nationals gain access to EU citizenship.
Arguably, this could lead to criminal gangs infiltrating the EU while the lack of transparency fosters corruption, money laundering and tax evasion (cover your ears if this is the first time you’ve heard of such nonsense).
The European Commission says it wasn’t trying to blame anybody or single out countries for a good ticking off, although the report did mention Cyprus quite a lot.
Nevertheless, Europe has given notice that it will no longer hide under the desk while countries sell EU citizenships, which arguably, are not there’s to give.
Bulgaria has felt the heat and said it is not going to offer passports for cash – that would leave Cyprus and Malta to face the music alone.
In Nicosia the mood was slightly more bolshy with President Anastasiades saying the reasons were well known why Cyprus was being unfairly targeted – he didn’t exactly spell those reasons out because they were so obvious (?).
Well not that obvious, unless he’s suggesting there are countries, wealthy individuals and large corporations digging the dirt on Cyprus, so investors go elsewhere.
Or maybe there are jealous Member States who yearn to brush shoulders with dubious types who are the focus of EU or US sanctions.
Anastasiades said Cyprus had Europe’s most rigorous scheme for investor citizenship while making himself quite clear that the suits in Brussels had got it all quite wrong by employing “double standards” when it came to his tiny island.
In the aftermath of the report, that painted Cyprus like one of those Wild West town’s where the gun-for-hire gets to be sheriff without due process, Cypriot investment officials were wheeled out to tell the Commission where it went wrong.
Of course, the Commission study didn’t check its facts because it was littered with “omissions and inaccuracies” and failed to depict the island as the Mother Theresa of Transparency.
Officials argued that everything is above board so Cyprus should be given a medal for its ring-fenced process which has due diligence at its core.
The snag comes when trying to find data about who has been given a Cyprus passport and how much has been raised through the scheme.
Apparently personal data violations prevent this from happening, but we must take it on good authority that dirty money is not allowed in and told to go elsewhere.
After the financial crisis, Cyprus was in a tight spot, so it needed to sell off the family heirloom to raise some cash for a rainy day, surely it no longer needs to attract negative headlines and have Washington breathing down its neck over dodgy Russian money.
Europe is nervous about these passport schemes because when people/countries keep secrets it means they have got something to hide.
Cyprus argues it is misunderstood and discriminated against because the big boys club doesn’t want it to be rich and healthy.
Having said that, the Commission now wants to see more transparency and guarantees on security and anti-money laundering to help negate abuse.
Experts from each EU state will be tasked with looking into these schemes, the number of applicants, country of origin, and number of 'Golden Passports' that entitle wealthy people to purchase citizenship and all the EU rights that come with it.
Brussels seeks greater guarantees that people who do purchase citizenship have a genuine link with the state offering them the keys to Europe.
Cyprus refutes that its candidates are not tied to the country because the €2 mln needed to invest is a big enough incentive to stay.
NGOs Transparency International and Global Witness say now that the EU has rattled the cage it needs to go further by telling the offending countries what they need to do.
Listening to the mantra closer to home, Cyprus doesn’t need to do anything drastic because it is already playing by the book and there are five billion reasons why it is going to keep on doing what it’s doing.
If the Cyprus government spent its time worrying about scathing reports by outsiders, it would never leave the house.
Oh, I forgot…the house has been sold to some wealthy tycoon wanted by Interpol.
