Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda used the first-ever session of the EU-Caribbean Parliamentary Assembly to mount a public defense of Caribbean citizenship by investment (CBI) programs, calling them “lawful, transparent development tools” that have been strengthened with direct input from the EU, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The Assembly, held in Antigua from February 16 to 18, is a new institutional body created under the Samoa Agreement, which succeeded the Cotonou Agreement in January 2024 and governs EU relations with 77 African, Caribbean, and Pacific states for the next 20 years. It brings together one parliamentarian from each Caribbean state party and an equal number of Members of the European Parliament. The 15 Caribbean delegations include all five Eastern Caribbean CBI jurisdictions: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia.

CBI Vetting “More Difficult” Than EU Visas

Browne framed CBI programs as essential fiscal instruments for small island states with limited economic alternatives. The programs “have helped finance hurricane recovery, climate-resilient infrastructure, healthcare, education, and fiscal stability,” he told delegates.

The prime minister acknowledged the need for integrity but insisted reforms have already taken place. “We recognise that integrity is essential, and we have acted accordingly, tightening vetting, enhancing regulation, and expanding international cooperation,” Browne said.

He then made what may be his sharpest public argument on the subject to date: that the due diligence, biometrics, and residency requirements attached to CBI programs make obtaining Caribbean citizenship “far more difficult and less risky than other third country nationals obtaining non-immigrant EU visas.”.

He added that “the perceived risks associated with our citizens accessing the European Union are exacerbated.” The implication is that the EU’s own visa issuance processes face comparable or greater security gaps, a contention Brussels is unlikely to accept but which reframes the debate on terms more favorable to Caribbean governments.

Sovereignty With Dialogue

Browne struck a calibrated tone on sovereignty. “Citizenship policy remains a sovereign responsibility,” he said, before quickly adding: “But sovereignty does not preclude dialogue.”

He characterized Antigua’s engagement with the EU as “evidence-based, technically grounded, and as respectful of our development realities as we are respectful of your concerns.” The phrasing positions CBI reform as a cooperative process rather than a capitulation to external pressure, and it implicitly rejects the European Commission’s December 2025 recommendation that Caribbean nations tighten vetting only “pending the discontinuation” of their CBI programs.

Mobility as a Condition of Partnership

Browne’s most pointed remarks came when he linked the CBI question to the broader principle of movement between the two regions.

“A modern EU-Caribbean relationship must therefore support legitimate, secure, and predictable movement, fully consistent with security requirements but not constrained by unnecessary friction and exaggerated fears about our investment immigration programmes,” he said.

The reference to “exaggerated fears” lands differently in February 2026 than it might have a year earlier. Since December 2025, the European Commission has stated that operating a CBI program “in itself” constitutes grounds for suspending visa-free travel to the Schengen area.

The United States, meanwhile, has suspended immigrant visas for all five Caribbean CBI nations. Browne’s remarks amount to a plea for proportionality at a moment when proportionality is in short supply.

A New Forum, but Will It Matter?

For Caribbean CBI nations, the Assembly offers something they have lacked: a formal, recurring parliamentary forum to present their case directly to European legislators, rather than through Commission communiqués or bilateral diplomatic cables. Whether the forum produces results or merely speeches remains to be seen, but the venue itself represents an upgrade in the Caribbean’s institutional access to EU decision-makers.

Browne used the broader address to push for deliverables on trade (arguing that the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement signed in 2008 has failed to deliver in practice), climate finance, and the EU’sGlobal Gateway investment initiative. But the CBI defense was the core message aimed at the European parliamentarians in the room.

“When those weaken, our vulnerability grows,” he said of the international legal frameworks on which small states depend. “It is felt first by small, open economies such as ours in the Caribbean. But as Europe has come to learn, that vulnerability does not remain contained; it spreads outward and eventually reaches even middle powers.”

Antigua’s CBI Program

Antigua and Barbuda’s CBI program, established in 2013, currently requires a minimum contribution of $230,000 to the National Development Fund (NDF) for a family of up to four, or $245,000 for larger families. Alternative routes include real estate investment (minimum $300,000), business investment ($400,000 in a joint venture from a total of $1.5 million), and a University of the West Indies Fund contribution ($260,000 for families of six or more).

The program is one of only two Caribbean CBI programs (alongside Dominica’s) that triggered the Trump administration’s initial December 2025 travel restrictions, which cited the absence of a residency requirement. Antigua subsequently negotiated partial relief, securing continued access for nationals holding valid US visas issued before December 31, 2025, and has signaled it may extend its physical presence requirement to 90 days over five years in response to American concerns.

The program currently requires five days of physical presence within the first five years of citizenship. The proposed 30-day mandatory residency requirement under the draft Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority (ECCIRA) agreement would harmonize this standard across all five Caribbean CBI nations. (IMI Daily)

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