OECS Leaders to Craft Joint Response to EU Call to End Citizenship by Investment Programmes

Prime Minister Gaston Browne says leaders of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will meet to formulate a unified response after the European Commission formally requested that Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes across the region be phased out by June 1, 2028.

Speaking Thursday during his address as outgoing chairman of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s Monetary Council in Dominica, Browne said the request poses a significant challenge for the affected economies, where CBI revenue remains a major source of non-tax income.

He said the European Commission, in a letter dated June 25 and signed by Commissioner Magnus Brunner, advised regional leaders that under the European Union’s revised Visa Suspension Mechanism, the operation of a citizenship by investment programme is now, by itself, grounds for suspending visa-free travel to the Schengen Area. The Commission has proposed a 24-month transition period, during which interim measures would be implemented before the programmes are discontinued.

“The CBI Programmes are critical pillars of the OECS CIP countries’ non-tax revenue base, and they cannot simply be abandoned without viable, concrete, and credible replacement revenues being made available,” Browne said.

He revealed that OECS Heads of Government are scheduled to meet to discuss a coordinated regional response to the European Union, arguing that the proposed policy would cause “irreparable harm” to the economies of participating countries and negatively affect the welfare of their citizens.

Browne said regional governments intend to continue engaging the European Commission in what he described as a principled and constructive dialogue, while defending the importance of the programmes to the economic stability of the participating states.

The Prime Minister also noted that the Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority was recently established to strengthen governance, transparency and accountability across the region’s investment migration programmes, a move intended to bolster international confidence in the sector.

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