the program last fall, after the European Commission threatened to take legal action against Cyprus and Malta—which has a similar program—if nothing was done about the programs to ensure more scrutiny. The program provides visa holders with a European passport and entry into many international destinations - which is perceived as problematic by the European Union.
While she does not deny that the citizenship program needs to be revisited, she believes that visas issued to criminals were a minority of cases. “Any corruption, particularly at the state level, cannot really be allowed to reflect on the vast law-abiding majority of the persons in government and in society,” she said.
The citizenship by investment program benefited, Yiolitis explains, “a whole range of sectors of the economy, the building sector, the manufacturing sector, retail education during consecutive governments since 2017. And the loss of revenue really from this program is not going to be easy to replace.”to 8 billion euros since 2013 through the program, which is substantial for an island of about 876,000 people.