‘We Will Survive’: Pierre responds to EU’s visa-free travel warning

Despite growing uncertainty after the European Commission’s latest stance on visa-free travel, Citizenship by Investment (CBI) was notably absent from the agenda of the 51st CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting.

Reporters asked CARICOM Chairman and Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre about the European Commission’s recent ultimatum to Antigua and Barbuda. The Commission told the country to end its Citizenship by Investment Programme by June 2028 or risk losing visa-free access to the Schengen Area, “regardless of how well the programme is managed”.

When asked whether regional leaders had discussed the issue, Pierre replied simply, “CARICOM did not discuss CBI.”

Pushed further, Pierre explained that the issue was not raised because it does not affect every member state. Instead, he said, the five countries operating Citizenship by Investment programmes – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and St Kitts and Nevis – have been working together to address the identified concerns of the programme.

“We’ve been trying our best to follow best practices. We’ve been trying our best to ensure all the requirements we are asked for; we have met them,” Pierre said.

However, he acknowledged that there is only so much CBI countries can do if another nation decides to change its immigration policies.

“Regardless of what we do, if Europe does not want us to have a CIP programme, that’s what is going to happen. Each country has its own domestic policies,” he said.

Still, Pierre said the region has faced similar challenges in the past and has always managed to move forward.

He compared the current situation to when the Caribbean lost special treatment for its banana and sugar industries. He said that while things may change, the region’s resilience has always stayed strong.

“We’ve been there before. We took all the steps as far as our bananas were concerned, and we still lost [preferential]treatment for our bananas… We’ve gone there before, and we’ve always survived. I’m sure we will continue to survive,” Pierre said.

The article ‘We Will Survive’: Pierre responds to EU’s visa-free travel warning is from St. Lucia Times.