The EU has been pushing countries to end their golden visa programs for years, because they're widely abused by money launderers and people avoiding sanctions.
It's too bad, because I'd love to retire to a sunny country in the Mediterranean, but by the time I retire I suspect golden visa programs will have gone, and there aren't really a lot of options for visas in retirement.
At least in the case of Portugal, the visa usually used by retired people is the D7 visa (not the golden visa), which requires a source of income not related to your work (eg: pensions). So you still have hope!
Perhaps they'll be replaced with visas that don't lead to citizenship, so you can still live there but not travel on a European passport.
It's tricky, because a lot of countries see "live here for a long enough time and of course you should become a citizen" as only fair. But it might keep everyone happy.
It's too bad, because I'd love to retire to a sunny country in the Mediterranean, but by the time I retire I suspect golden visa programs will have gone, and there aren't really a lot of options for visas in retirement.