MIDDAY BRIEF, IN BRIEF

Today at Commission, passports and College meeting

It’s up to national capitals who they give passports to, Commission says, after reports about scheme in Cyprus.

On  the agenda: College of Commissioners’ agenda, passport schemes.

On the podium: Commission chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas.

Passports schemes: The Commission is monitoring EU countries that set up schemes allowing non-EU citizens to get passports in exchange for money/investment/property purchases, but it is up to national capitals to decide who can get a passport, Schinas said. He was responding to media reports that Cypriot authorities had generated €4 billion in investment since 2013 after giving passports to Russian and Ukrainian businessmen.

College of Commissioners’ agenda: European commissioners will tomorrow discuss taxing tech companies along with new regulation on the capital markets union and financial services. Commission Vice Presidents Jyrki Katainen and Valdis Dombrovskis will provide a readout of the meeting.

Commissioners on stage: Commissioners Andrus Ansip, Mariya Gabriel and Julian King presented the Commission’s detailed plans on cybersecurity, including the creation of a European Cybersecurity Agency and a European certification scheme to ensure that products and services in the digital world are safe to use.