European Parliament report accuses seven countries, including Cyprus, of acting as tax havens

The European Parliament urged EU member states on Tuesday to curb money-laundering in the bloc by ending programs to sell visas and passports, a step the multi-billion-dollar industry said would cause economic damage.

The recommendation is part of a hard-hitting report which also accused seven EU countries of acting as tax havens: Luxembourg, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta, Hungary, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The document is the result of a year's work by the parliament's committee on financial crime and tax evasion. The report has now been adopted by the whole assembly, boosting its political weight, though it remains non-binding.
Lawmakers said EU states should "phase out" as soon as possible all existing schemes to market citizenship and residency permits to wealthy foreigners. Currently 20 of the 28 EU states run these programmes.

The economic advantages of...