European Court of Justice tells Malta to stop its controversial program that sells passports.

The EU court told Malta to stop selling passports. They said it is against the rules of the EU. Selling citizenship is like selling EU membership, which is not allowed.

Many countries used to sell citizenship, but they stopped. People worried it helped bad people break the law. Malta's program broke EU law, even after they made changes.

Malta said they will listen to the court but like the program. They said it made them a lot of money. Some people are happy about the ruling, but some politicians in Malta are not.

Other countries in Europe also had similar programs. They stopped because of problems like crime and money issues. After Russia attacked Ukraine, people worried these programs helped Russians avoid rules.

The EU said the ruling means no country in the EU can sell citizenship. They will study the ruling to see what it means for passports already sold. This happened as Trump talked about a similar program in the U.S.