Former St Vincent Prime Minister and senior advisor Ralph Gonsalves has sounded a stark alarm regarding the future of the Eastern Caribbean, following a directive from the European Union (EU) for five regional nations to terminate their Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programs by June 2028.
Describing the development as the “most important issue” currently facing the region, Gonsalves noted that the directive targets Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia. He emphasized that the international community—including the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States—no longer views these programs as subjects for reform, but as fundamental security risks.
Gonsalves reiterated his long-standing opposition to CBI schemes, noting that his administration in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) had always refused to “sell passports” on both practical and principled grounds. He famously described a passport as the “outward sign of the inward grace of citizenship,” arguing that treating it as a commodity is fundamentally unsustainable.
“I made the judgment and I think the events are bearing me out,” Gonsalves stated, adding that the current crisis is a case of “the chickens coming home to roost” for countries that relied on CBI revenue.
The potential fallout from the termination of these programs is, in Gonsalves’ view, “perilous”. He warned that the sudden loss of CBI funding could damage external accounts and negatively impact the real effective exchange rate of the Eastern Caribbean dollar. Without a structured transition, he cautioned that the sub-region’s economy could be sent into a “tailspin,” destabilizing even those nations like SVG that do not have CBI programs.
To avoid a regional “calamity,” Gonsalves is proposing the immediate formation of a multi-national consortium to facilitate a transition period of at least ten years. This consortium would ideally include:
- The European Union, Britain, Canada, and the United States.
- The World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).
Gonsalves argued that this group must provide a quantified package of grant monies and highly concessional “soft loans”—such as World Bank-type loans at 0.75% interest over 45 to 50 years—to cushion the fiscal shock. He stressed that these funds should be policy-based or programmatic rather than project-based to allow for swift economic adjustment.
Addressing domestic politics, Gonsalves warned the current opposition in SVG (the NDP) that persisting with plans to implement a CBI program would be “reckless” and “ill-advised” given the EU’s firm stance. He suggested that such a move would be metaphorically “poking the Europeans in the eye” and would result only in disaster for the country.
“We are in a period where we have to move swiftly,” Gonsalves concluded, urging regional leaders to begin the quantification of their needs and engage the international community before the 2028 deadline.
