Newsroom
The Cyprus House of Representatives has officially pulled the plug on the controversial Cyprus Investment Program (CIP), shutting down the government’s ability to hand out citizenship to investors and their families. The move sparked a fiery debate in Parliament over who’s responsible, who should be held accountable, and how the program damaged the country’s reputation abroad.
The new law also lays out how past citizenship grants will be reviewed, gives people 60 days to appeal to the Independent Committee for the Examination of Deprivation of Citizenship, and requires that the names of those whose citizenship is revoked be published in the Official Gazette.
The aim is clear: finally settle EU infringement proceedings dating back to 2020 and make sure the investment program can never be restarted.
At the same time, Cyprus updated the rules for honorary citizenship, letting the state grant citizenship to children of Greek nationals who died in 1974, as well as to artists and cultural figures who’ve made exceptional contributions to the island. The Deputy Ministry of Culture now handles these recommendations.
Parliamentary Firestorm
The debate was heated, to say the least. AKEL MP Aristos Damianou called the vote a political “memorial service” for the golden passport program, warning that Cyprus was losing a tool that allowed the state to grant citizenship in the public interest. Damianou said the program had handed out citizenship to 7,329 people, including 3,522 investors, many of whom never even set foot on the island. “The program may have boosted the economy a bit, but the damage to democracy was irreparable,” he said.
DISY MP Nicos Sykas argued that scrapping the program made sense now that it’s gone. He blamed mismanagement during AKEL’s time in office for abuses and said the program had provided economic support when it was needed most, even if some tried to game the system.
Independent MP Alexandra Attalidou called the program “shaky from the start” and said it was set up in a way that let politicians exploit it, leaving Cyprus’ reputation abroad in tatters.
AKEL Secretary General Stefanos Stefanou warned that conflicts of interest exposed by the program left the rule of law “irreparably exposed,” and called for accountability for those who profited.
Lawmakers also argued over whether the law itself was the problem or the way it was carried out. Independent socialist MP Costas Efstathiou said the system gave civil servants and ministers too much power, creating opportunities for abuse. Meanwhile, DISY MP Onoufrios Koulla defended the program as necessary during an economic crisis, noting that only a small fraction of cases were problematic.
Independent Limassol MP Andreas Themistocleous warned that removing the state’s ability to grant citizenship undermines sovereignty, while Mr. Stefanou again flagged potential conflicts of interest among top officials handling applications.
Despite the row, Parliament approved the law, formally closing the chapter on one of Cyprus’ most controversial and internationally criticized programs.
