The European Commission has ended its legal case against Cyprus. This was about the country's old program for citizenship. People could get citizenship by investing money. Cyprus has now stopped this program. The European Commission was unhappy with the program for a long time. This decision means Cyprus will not go to the European Court of Justice. Cyprus officials are happy about this result. They say it closes a difficult time for the country.
The Commission started this case because they thought the program was wrong. They said it broke EU laws. The program let people from outside the EU become citizens. This was done by making big investments in Cyprus. The EU worried that these people could then enter the EU easily. This could bring security risks. It could also weaken the idea of EU citizenship.
Cyprus listened to the EU's concerns. The country stopped its "golden passport" program in November 2020. This was an important step. Cyprus also started an investigation into the program. This committee looked at how the program worked. Their findings helped the government make changes.
The government also took back citizenship from some people. This happened if they got it in a wrong way. Discussions between Cyprus and EU officials were very important. They talked about the new laws and changes. This helped Cyprus follow EU rules.
New laws were made quickly to match EU rules. The Cyprus government worked with the European Commission on these laws. The laws were approved by the government and parliament. Because Cyprus made these changes, the European Commission decided to stop the legal case.
The legal case is now finished. However, the "golden passports" program is still talked about in Cyprus. The program brought money to the country. But some people said there were problems with it. There were worries about fairness and illegal money. This legal end stops a difficult court case. People will likely still discuss this program and what was learned.