Antigua & Barbuda defies EU demand to end citizenship‑by‑investment programme by 2028

The European Commission sent a formal letter on 25 June 2026 to Prime Minister Gaston Browne, requesting that Antigua and Barbuda phase out its Citizenship‑by‑Investment (CBI) programme by 1 June 2028, with a 24‑month transition and interim measures such as excluding applicants subject to EU restrictive measures and tightening vetting. Antigua and Barbuda’s government replied that the CBI scheme is a critical source of non‑tax revenue that funds hospitals, schools, infrastructure and disaster‑recovery efforts, and it will not surrender the programme without a credible EU‑backed alternative. The government also noted the EU has sent similar correspondence to Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia, and highlighted that around 107 000 passports have been issued across these Eastern Caribbean schemes, with 13 113 applications in 2023 and 10 573 in 2024.

Antigua and Barbuda stressed it will cooperate on stronger safeguards, including excluding individuals on EU sanction lists and reinforcing due‑diligence, but maintained a hard line that any agreed path must include tangible EU assistance to replace the revenue that the CBI programme provides to the small island’s economy and public services.