BRUSSELS, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The European Union's executive said on Tuesday it was launching legal action against Cyprus and Malta over their investor citizenship programmes, also known as "golden passport" schemes.

The commission has refrained from launching legal actions against EU states that sell residence permits, also known as "golden visa schemes", without requiring investors to stay in the country for a meaningful period, despite a European Parliament resolution urging such a move.

7,50€ for 50g.

The Cypriot and Maltese governments have two months to take action. Without meaningful changes, the commission could refer them to the bloc's Court of Justice and ultimately it can ask the court to impose penalties. ($1 = 0.8467 euros) (Reporting by John Chalmers and Francesco Guarascio; additional reporting by Chris Scicluna in Valletta; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Greek development minister Adonis Georgiadis, who recently visited China, said the Bank of Greece had concluded that "the use of bank terminals does not violate Greek or European law. If it is violating the Chinese law, this is a matter for China."

Cyprus said last week it was suspending its citizenship-for- investment programme, ditching a scheme the government had acknowledged was open to abuse after an investigation by Al Jazeera, a media outlet.

China and Greece have been building progressively closer trade and investment ties for more than a decade, ever since two main container terminals at the port of Piraeus were sold to Chinese shipping giant Cosco in 2008.

"They like to stay in Athens and the suburbs, forming little Chinatowns. They are buying blocks of flats, where all the owners are Chinese," said Anny Avgouli, migration policy manager for a law firm, Dedes, that has a special department for golden visas specifically for Chinese customers.

The European Commission said the decision was taken because the two member states granted nationality - and thereby EU citizenship - without requiring "a genuine link with the country", as passport holders were not obliged to reside there.

In a report earlier this year, the European Commission singled out Cyprus, Bulgaria and Malta, complaining that wealthy candidates for residency or citizenship do not face adequate security and background checks.

Malta's Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said on Tuesday the country was replacing its current scheme with a new programme that would introduce tighter vetting of applicants, who will have to be residents of the islands for a year before their applications can be considered.