Antigua and Barbuda's citizenship-by-investment programme will not close on 12 November, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said on his radio programme, the Browne and Browne Show, on Saturday 31 October, according to WIC News. He said the date is the deadline for the government's response to the European Union, not the day the programme ends, and criticised political opponents for presenting it as a closure date.
According to the report, the EU asked the government for a formal commitment on discontinuing the programme by 12 November. The deadline was first set for 30 September and later extended. The EU had proposed a phase-out by June 2028; the government has asked for December 2030 instead, a request the EU has not yet approved.
Browne warned that losing about 100 million dollars a year in citizenship investment revenue would weigh heavily on public finances; the article does not state the currency. The government has asked for EU support for a socioeconomic assessment covering revenue, jobs and investment, and for financial help to adjust to a future without that income. Browne also questioned whether the EU would cover the shortfall.
WIC News notes that Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia run similar programmes and also face scrutiny from Brussels, and that the government has consulted regional counterparts. Under the EU's revised visa suspension framework, citizenship-by-investment programmes can be a ground for reviewing visa exemptions. Browne said more information will follow once the EU responds.
What it means
For now the programme continues: 12 November is a diplomatic deadline, and no closure date has been agreed between Antigua and Barbuda and the EU. The government's conditional offer to end the programme by December 2030 is still awaiting the EU's answer.
Was this useful?