Intelligence agencies are said to be concerned some countries are selling citizenship to "dangerous" wealthy people from Russia, the Middle East and China.
What are golden passports?
Countries around the world operate schemes offering citizenship or long-term residency in return for "investments".
They effectively allow wealthy individuals to buy a passport or visa, typically for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Several Caribbean nations do it as a way to raise money for the government, and there are similar schemes in Malaysia, South America, the Middle East and the South Pacific.
It has emerged some EU countries offer versions of the controversial scheme.
For example Malta's "individual investor programme" offers citizenship in return for a €650,000 (£572,000) contribution to the country's development fund and €150,000 (£132,000) investment in government bonds.
New citizens also have to buy or lease property – but are not required to spend any time there.
Cyprus offers citizenship within six months to people who invest €2million in property on the island.
There is no language test or interview.
A Cyprus or Malta passport gives the holder a right to live and work in any other EU state including the UK.
How do golden passports enable tax dodging?
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of developed nations, has published a blacklist of 21 countries whose golden passport schemes are judged "high risk".
It says there are perfectly legitimate reasons why wealthy individuals might pay to obtain citizenship or residency in another country.
But it warns the schemes can be misused by rich people to hide their assets offshore.
Passports and ID cards can also be used to mislead authorities about which tax jurisdiction applies to their income.
A particular risk is when governments offer very low rates of tax on assets held offshore. It leads to what is dubbed "passport shopping".
The OECD warned such schemes undermine global efforts to tackle tax evasion.
EU states Malta and Cyprus were named on the blacklist, along with Monaco.
The glitzy city state is not in the EU but is within the customs union and is administered as part of France.
Why are golden passports a threat to security?
Golden passports could be sold to dangerous criminals and make it harder to stop money laundering, security chiefs fear.
Intelligence agencies including MI5 are said to have warned of the risk to national security.
Malta and Cyprus have reportedly sold citizenship to hundreds of wealthy Russians – including some with links to Vladimir Putin.
EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová said money was being put before security.
She said: “We have legitimate concerns, because if in one country a dangerous person gets citizenship, he gets citizenship for the whole of Europe.
"Maybe we all have to renegotiate the whole system and the whole competence of Europe.
“Once we have some weak points in the EU, some weak points where it is easy to enter, the whole of Europe has a problem.”
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