Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne has formally put forward a set of targeted requests to the European Union, as the bloc pushes for the small Caribbean nation to wind down its long-running Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme. The landmark demands, which emerged from coordinated consensus-building across regional Caribbean states that operate similar CBI schemes, include direct budgetary support to offset projected steep revenue losses, a joint socioeconomic impact study, and a two-year extension to the EU’s proposed phase-out timeline. Speaking during his weekly “Browne and Browne Show” broadcast on Saturday, Browne laid out the stakes of the policy shift in stark terms, noting that Antigua and Barbuda stands to forfeit roughly $100 million in annual revenue if the CBI programme is eliminated as the EU has demanded. The prime minister emphasized that the revenue hit would represent a substantial blow to the twin-island nation’s fiscal stability, though he did not specify the exact currency denomination of the projected loss. The EU has previously issued a formal deadline of November 12 for Antigua and Barbuda to submit a binding commitment to discontinue its CBI scheme, with a proposed phase-out window that would wrap up in June 2028. Antigua and Barbuda’s government is now pushing to extend that transition timeline all the way to December 2030, a measure Browne argued is critical to enabling an orderly, managed wind-down that ensures the government can honour all existing contractual obligations tied to the CBI programme, while avoiding sudden disruptions to public services that rely on CBI revenue. Browne explained that the requests were not developed unilaterally, but emerged from collective deliberations among leaders of Caribbean peer nations that run comparable citizenship-for-investment frameworks, who aligned on a unified negotiating position to present to the EU. “If your regulatory demand forces us to shutter our programme and we face a $100 million annual shortfall as a direct consequence, what concrete budgetary support are you prepared to extend to us to mitigate that harm?” Browne challenged the EU during his broadcast. The prime minister pushed back against suggestions that the request for financial backing lacked a clear rationale, noting that the government is actively advocating to secure fair terms for its population amid the externally driven policy change. At present, no formal response has been received from the European Union on any of Antigua and Barbuda’s three core proposals: the socioeconomic impact study, budgetary support package, and extended 2030 phase-out deadline. Browne confirmed that his administration will share full, transparent updates with the Antiguan and Barbudan public as soon as the EU communicates its position, whether that means accepting the proposals, offering counter-alternatives, or rejecting the requests outright.
Antigua and Barbuda seeks EU financial support over potential CIP revenue loss
