The EU wants to kill CBI – and doesn’t care how the job gets done
It is very scary and foreboding how quickly the governments decided to ban Russians. We clearly see that when small developing countries are pressured by powerful stakeholders, they have no choice but to buckle under the pressure immediately. This is an important lesson to learn as it brings us back to the consequences of the European Parliament vote of a few weeks ago.
The European Parliament on March 9, 2022, voted to ask the European Commission to prepare a legislative proposal that would call for the banning of CBI programs around the world. While the process of coming up with this legislative proposal can take years, and voting on it can take even longer, this vote has had a very sobering effect on the CBI industry. It is clear that Europe does not want CBIs to exist at all and is looking for ways to close them down. Though legislatively we are still very far away from this call to close CBI, we can now see that Europe will pressure CBI countries to close down. If we look at the example of what happened with the Russians, we can clearly see that, if pressure is brought to bear, the Caribbean will be forced to give up so much and perhaps very quickly.
It is still not too late to try to avoid the scenario whereby all CBI countries close their programs. There is still time to maneuver, for all stakeholders in the CBI space to come together and help educate the EU about the programs and the incredible safeguards in place within them. It is still not too late to let the EU know how important these funds are for CBI countries.
Most of all, it is not too late to explain that the due diligence done on CBI candidates by the Caribbean countries is the best due diligence of any immigration program of any country around the world, including the US, Canada, and the UK.
The effort must be made now because time is of the essence. Previous efforts have been unsuccessful. It is time to re-group and combine the efforts of governments, agents, due diligence companies, and other stakeholders and face the matter directly. Because if this does not happen, the days of CBI are clearly numbered.
This is a time of both danger and opportunity for the industry. We can become better and stronger, or the industry can close down. It is up to us, and it is up to us now.
Will we rise to the challenge?
Source: IMIdaily
