Commission v. Malta, Case C-181/23, CJEU (Grand Chamber), 29 April 2025

Member States’ competence over citizenship matters and compatibility of citizenship investment schemes with EU law.

Art. 4(3) TEU
Art. 20 TFEU

1. The competence of the Member States in matters of citizenship must be exercised in compliance with EU law and is not unlimited, as Member States must refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the principle of sincere cooperation and solidarity that form the bedrock of the citizenship status.

2. Citizenship-by-investment programmes that bypass the verification of a genuine link with the Member State are incompatible with the very essence of EU citizenship which is the fundamental status of the nationals of the EU Member States. Those schemes are indeed in breach of the obligations incumbent upon the Member States under Article 20 TFEU and Article 4(3) TEU.

3. The Republic of Malta established a citizenship investment scheme that was publicly presented as offering primarily the benefits arising from Union citizenship, in particular the right to move and reside freely in the other Member States, thereby establishing a transactional procedure which amounts to the commercialisation of the grant of nationality by making use of the rights attaching to Union citizenship for the purpose of promoting that procedure.