CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Jul 13, CMC – The St. Lucia government Monday said that the growth of the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme had become over the years a problem for the European Union (EU) and the United States based on national security threats to their countries.
Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Ernest Hilaire, who overseas the CBI programme here, told a news conference that both the Americans the EU “had expressed concern about the growth of the programmes and therefore they had issues with potential threats to national security through the programmes, meaning that there were individuals who may not have the best interests of those countries at heart wanting to use those programmes as a way of getting entry into their countries.
“We’ve always contended and said two things. One, that we appreciate their concern and we share it and that we will work with them to make sure that the programmes do not constitute a security threat to them.
“So we’ve made that very clear” Hilaire told reporters adding that “our number one principle is that we will work with our international partners to make sure the programme does not constitute a threat and that we would work with them”.
Hilaire said that Castries had even put in place recommendations from the EU including changing “our legislation …to reinforce the programme.
“We introduced value metrics. So we actually instituted a number of changes to strengthen the programmes and to make them more foul proof. So we felt we had done quite a lot and we were advancing working together.
“We’re also aware that within the European Union there is a change in the mood of the Commission. So for example, even programmes that existed in the European Union, they’ve asked their member states to change the programmes, move it from citizenship direct to citizenship through residency.”
Hilaire said that the EU had instituted much more stringent measures “so much so that the European Union itself took one of its members, Malta, to court because Malta had said, no, it’s our right to have a programme if we want to”.
He said the European Commission had insisted that as a member Malta had to follow certain rules.
“So they have taken a decision that their members must not have these programmes. One of the requirements they had asked us to put in place was a regional regulator. They wanted a regional body that could regulate the programmes, oversee the programmes, and make sure that all the legislative requirements had been met.
“We were asked to do so. So we went into Parliament the ending of last year and we passed the new legislation for the regional regulator. We changed our own laws to incorporate the regional regulator and other changes.
“And we thought, okay, we’re making progress. We’re moving forward. What you’ve asked us to do, we’ve done it. We’ve explained to you the importance of the programmes to our countries. In the case of St. Lucia, it’s just about eight to 10 per cent of our national revenue.”
Bit Hilaire said that in the case of other Caribbean islands, the CBI constitutes as high as 45 per cent of their economies.
“So it is significant in terms of the development of those countries, the financing of development of those countries. So we thought we were making progress, that we had met all what they told us.
“Even some things we believed were a little difficult, but we did it,” he said, adding that the latest letter from the EU indicated that if the regional countries do not do away with the CBI programme by June 2028, then visa free access to Europe would be halted.
“ The latest letter that came out of them was that you know what, we don’t really care anymore. And the letter kind of said so. How good you run the programme. Whether it’s not even a security threat anymore, we just don’t want you to have these programmes. Now that’s a change from what it was before.
“Because before, it was those programmes that constituted a security threat, and therefore you must do A, B, C, D, which we have done. So now it has moved that it doesn’t matter how well it is managed, it doesn’t really matter. We just don’t think countries should have programmes like that, so you must stop yours.’
Last weekend, the leaders of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) whose countries operate a CBI pogramme announced plans to mount a “high-level mission” to Brussels after the EU announced plans to end visa free programme for the sub-region.
In a three-page statement, the leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis said they would undertake the mission “at the earliest appropriate opportunity” to engage directly with the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Council, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
“These engagements will seek to deepen mutual understanding of the unique vulnerabilities and development realities of small island developing states, to explore practical and mutually beneficial solutions to the issues identified by the European Union, and to strengthen the longstanding partnership between the European Union and the Eastern Caribbean.”
Under the CBI programme, foreign investors are granted citizenship of the island in return for making a substantial investment in the socio-economic development of the country.
The OECS leaders met at the invitation and under the chairmanship Prime Minister Skerrit to consider “recent developments” concerning the CBI programme.
Hilaire said that St. Lucia still believes that international diplomacy “really takes place by friends sitting down at a table and talking to each other.
“We may not agree on everything, but at least we talk to each other and we get an understanding from each other as to what the objective is. Because if you’re saying to me, and it is the best way to move forward, what’s your concern, what’s your interest, and how I can act to allay your concerns and your interests. And that’s how we solve problems.
“So I think that the letter requires that both partners, the European Union and ourselves, to sit down to fully understand the letter. It’s in writing, but it needs further explanation, because it’s not consistent with what has been happening for the last two years, where we were working together to allay any fears they may have had.”
Hilaire said that the heads of government are right in their approach and that they would want an opportunity of a diplomatic initiative to reach out to the European Union, “and to really get from them a thorough understanding of what this is about.
“Because like I said, it’s not consistent with the approach, the partnership that we’ve had with them, and for us to really distil and understand the scope and scale of the consequences of that letter.
“And I think at the end of it, the heads will take a decision in terms of how to move forward. I hope that makes sense,” Hilaire told reporters. Reminding journalists that the region has not forgotten that “we had to go through the whole banana industry.
“We produced less than 0.5 of a per cent of world production of bananas. And we had to go through the WTO (World Trade Organization) to try to save our banana industry, which we did not save.
“And what happened to our rural landscape? I mean, you can drive around St. Lucia and still see the scars of the decision for our banana industry to move from receiving preference treatment.”
CMC/ad/ir/2026