Saint Lucia and its Eastern Caribbean neighbours now have a clearer picture of what is at stake in their ongoing dispute with the European Union over Citizenship by Investment Programmes (CIP): they must phase the programmes out by June 2028 or risk losing visa-free access to the Schengen Area.
For Saint Lucia, this presents a difficult choice. The CIP brings in revenue that Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre says benefits the country, while visa-free access allows Saint Lucians to travel to countries within the Schengen Area without first obtaining a visa.
The issue has been building for years, with European authorities raising concerns about CIPs and the security implications of people acquiring citizenship from countries whose nationals enjoy visa-free access to Europe.
Eastern Caribbean governments have responded by strengthening due diligence and moving towards greater regional regulation of their programmes. But following talks with European officials in New York last week, Pierre said it became clear that those changes had not shifted the EU’s fundamental position.
The meeting brought Pierre and Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne together with European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Governor, Timothy Antoine, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Director General, Dr Didacus Jules and other officials.
“The Europeans are adamant,” Pierre said at Monday’s pre-Cabinet press briefing.
According to Pierre, one of the most significant takeaways was that there appears to be little room for negotiation on the central issue.
“There were some people who thought that that could be negotiated. But the guy was clear. He said, once you have a programme, that’s it,” he said.
That leaves Saint Lucia having to decide how far it is prepared to go to protect a programme the Government has repeatedly defended.
In March, when questioned by St Lucia Times about the future of the programme, Pierre was unequivocal about his Government’s position.
“I will tell you that Saint Lucia has no intention of stopping the CIP programme. We will do all we can. I want to be clear. We will do all we can to strengthen the programme,” the Prime Minister stated at the time.
With the EU’s position now clearer, St Lucia Times asked Pierre on Monday whether he still stood by that declaration and, given the possibility of losing visa-free access, where Saint Lucia now stood.
“The position is we’re going to protect the people of Saint Lucia…We’re going to protect our financial system,” Pierre responded, before again pointing to the value of CIP to the country.
“But our programme benefits the people of Saint Lucia,” he said.
Pierre said the CIP accounts for about 10 per cent of Saint Lucia’s revenue, making it important but not the Government’s main source of income.
“It’s a programme that we would not like to lose because it has done quite a bit for our country. But we are going to try to protect it,” he said.
For now, the Government has not announced any intention to wind down the programme.
The conversation with Europe is not over. A regional technical team is expected to hold further talks with European officials in October as the five Eastern Caribbean countries operating CIP programmes consider the way forward. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ernest Hilaire will represent Saint Lucia on the team.
But Pierre acknowledged that room for those discussions has narrowed considerably.
“So it’s a very difficult proposition that we have,” he said. “But we’re going to work with them to see if we can come to a solution.”
