OPPOSITION LEADER DR RALPH GONSALVES

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July 14, 2026

FORMER PRIME MINISTER Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has expressed concerns that any economic fallout in OECS countries that have Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes, is likely to spill over into the wider region in the face of a deadline issued by the European Union to phase out these CBI programmes by 2028.

Gonsalves, who was speaking on Star FM on July 8, 2026, highlighted that the European Union is making headlines for telling the five OECS nations namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia, to terminate their Citizenship by Investment programmes by June, 2028.

Gonsalves noted that the ultimatum of the EU was issued after they succeeded in closing down CBI programmes in Bulgaria, Malta, and Cyprus.

“So all these countries are members of the European Union, and they had made it plain.”

He said Britain, Canada, and the United States of America have also issued proclamations on the matter.

“They were making the point that it is no longer a matter of reforming your supervision or management of this CBI programme, which is really the selling of passports and selling of citizenship. They said it is not a matter of that anymore… [it] is that the very existence of these programmes constitute a security risk… to them.”
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