The Commission has received the response of the Cypriot authorities in the context of the infringement procedure for the Cyprus Investment Program and the analysis of this response is ongoing, while any decisions will be taken on the basis of communication with the Member State as in such cases, said the representative of the Commission for Justice.
Asked whether the Commission had received the interim report of the investigative committee on the Cyprus Investment Program, which, as the journalist noted, stated that “half of the naturalizations that took place were not legal”, the representative Christian Wigant stated that he could not confirm such a thing.
“However, we are following this issue very closely in the ongoing infringement proceedings against Cyprus,” the spokesman said, noting that the proceedings are in their second stage after the Commission sent a reasoned opinion letter in June.
“We have received the response of the Cypriot authorities, which we are evaluating in view of the next steps,” Mr. Wigad added.
“As you will recall, we have a clear position on these naturalization versus investment programs. “We have said many times that European citizenship, European values are not for sale and we have argued by law for the changes we expect from Cyprus as well as in Malta, the second country where there is an ongoing infringement process,” he added.
Noting that the Commission monitors all relevant developments in this context, he added that “our decisions are always based on the dialogue we have with the Member States and we are currently evaluating the response” of Cyprus.
