Failure will result in visa-free access to Schengen Area being withdrawn

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Saint Lucia and its Eastern Caribbean neighbours have been given a June 2028 deadline by the European Union (EU) to phase out its Citizenship by Investment Programmes, which have been a bone of contention between the two parties. 

The EU has declared that they must phase out the programmes out by the deadline or risk losing visa-free access to the Schengen Area, which is a border-free travel zone that allows people to move freely across 29 European countries without routine internal passport controls.

For Saint Lucia and the other Eastern Caribbean countries with a CIP presents a difficult choice in that the revenue its brings benefits these countries but visa-free access allows their nationals to travel to countries within the Schengen Area without first obtaining a visa.

Stand-off has been building for years

The current stand-off has been building for years with EU raising concerns about CIPs and the security implications of people acquiring citizenship from countries whose nationals enjoy visa-free access to Europe. Eastern Caribbean governments have responded by strengthening due diligence and moving towards greater regional regulation of their programmes.

However, talks with European officials in New York last week failed to broker a resolution, with St. Lucian Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre admitting that those changes had not shifted the EU’s fundamental position. The meeting also included Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, together with European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner; Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Governor, Timothy Antoine; and Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Director General, Dr Didacus Jules and other officials.

“The Europeans are adamant,” Pierre said at Monday’s pre-Cabinet press briefing in Saint Lucia, noting that one of the most significant takeaways was that there appears to be little room for negotiation on the central issue.

“There were some people who thought that that could be negotiated. But the guy was clear. He said, once you have a programme, that’s it,” Prime Minister Pierre reported, arguing that leaves Saint Lucia having to decide how far it is prepared to go to protect a programme the Government has repeatedly defended.

Saint Lucia’s position was unequivocal

In March, when questioned by St Lucia Times about the future of the programme, Pierre was unequivocal about his Government’s position. “I will tell you that Saint Lucia has no intention of stopping the CIP programme. We will do all we can. I want to be clear. We will do all we can to strengthen the programme,” the Prime Minister stated at the time. 

With the EU’s position now clearer, St Lucia Times asked Pierre on Monday whether he still stood by that declaration and, given the possibility of losing visa-free access, where Saint Lucia now stood. He responded, “The position is we’re going to protect the people of Saint Lucia…We’re going to protect our financial system,” Pierre responded, before again pointing to the value of CIP to the country. “But our programme benefits the people of Saint Lucia.”

In the case of Saint Lucia, CIP accounts for about 10% of Saint Lucia’s revenue, making it important but not the Government’s main source of income. “It’s a programme that we would not like to lose because it has done quite a bit for our country. But we are going to try to protect it,” Pierre said.

The conversation with Europe is not over as a regional technical team is expected to hold further talks with European officials in October as the five Eastern Caribbean countries operating CIP programmes consider the way forward.

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ernest Hilaire will represent Saint Lucia on the team but Pierre acknowledged that room for those discussions has narrowed considerably.