Extended economic citizenship program, Sekulović and Radulović were against

At the electronic session, the government decided to extend the economic citizenship program for one year, that is, the issuing of Montenegrin passports in exchange for investing in some of the development projects in the fields of tourism, processing industry and agriculture.

"In this way, the Government recognized the economic activity of investments, and on the other hand, the principles of the European Union regarding economic citizenship," explained the "Vijesti" source.

The extended program of up to one year implies stricter conditions, which mean that there will be no approval of new projects, while all investors will have to submit to the Government a bank guarantee in the value of 50 percent of the investment within one month.

In addition, applicants for citizenship, apart from the 100.000 euros they had to pay to the special Fund for the Development of Underdeveloped Municipalities, will now have to allocate an additional 100.000 euros to the Innovation Fund.

There are about 2.800 accommodation units within the tourist projects, which, if all are completed, will increase the hotel tourism offer by about 13 percent.

The total value of all projects is around 450 million euros and they should lead to 2.200 new jobs.

The ministers of interior and foreign affairs, Sergej Sekulović and Đorđe Radulović, were against extending the program.

Another "Vijesti" source said that according to them, the continuation of the program is questionable because visa liberalization is called into question, and previously the position that the program is ending was publicly stated, and the European Commission is also aware of this.

Last year, the European Union launched procedures against Cyprus and Malta because of "golden passports".