The government is willing to cancel the current economic citizenship program because it has to at the request of the European Union, even though it could use it to build an entire highway. We are looking for an alternative in order to continue a similar program in a way that would be acceptable to the EU, and which would satisfy the interests of Montenegro in terms of economic development, the Prime Minister said yesterday. Dritan Abazovic at a meeting in the Chamber of Commerce.
He also stated that some rules related to economic citizenship are valid for the member states of the European Union, and others are required from the candidate countries.
As he said, the previous model has brought the state investments of 300 million euros, and 70 million euros is the benefit of the budget from paid fees. Acceptance of applications for economic citizenship under the current model expires on December 31.
Minister of Finance Aleksandar Damjanović stated at the beginning of this week that European experts demanded that the economic citizenship program be suspended, but he also pointed out that in 19 EU countries there are currently similar projects that involve economic migration. He expressed the view that Montenegro should think about a model related to this project that is applied in these European countries.
The economic citizenship project that started in January 2019, according to data from October, brought in 310 million euros. Of the total amount, 188 million was then in a special account (ESCROW) where foreigners who wanted a Montenegrin passport had to pay money, while the rest was transferred to the accounts of the state and investors who build development projects in the field of tourism.
The European Commission has advised Montenegro to abolish the citizenship scheme for investors due to the risks it poses such as money laundering, tax evasion, terrorist financing, corruption and organized crime infiltration. Until October, 779 applications for the "golden passport" were submitted, of which 166 were approved, while 73 were rejected, and the rest were in the process of processing.
Yesterday, Abazović said that he signs new applications for economic citizenship almost every day, and that for each of his signatures, the state receives 250 euros. He stated that this is a low price for a Montenegrin passport, and that the project would have been different if he had designed it.
He said that it is impossible for money to be laundered or for criminals to obtain citizenship through this project, because everything is checked in detail and much more strictly than during regular investments.
"Everything is controlled and it gets into the core of the business of those persons, their families and all business connections," said Abazović.
In his speech, the Prime Minister said that the GDP will be worth about 5,6 billion by the end of the year, and that it is the first time that it has exceeded five billion.
"Foreign direct investments for the period January - October amount to 932 million euros, and were only higher in 2009 when Elektroprivreda was sold. Revenues from tourism for the period January-September amount to 916 million euros, and are 90 percent of the revenues from the record year 2019. This result was achieved without the participation of traditional guests from Russia, Ukraine, China and Belarus. The number of tourists from other destinations is growing, we expect that next year we will surpass the result from 2019", said Abazović.
He stated that the number of employees has increased to 226 thousand, and that the unemployment rate is at a record low level of 10,5 percent.
The Prime Minister said that the state has increased the capital in EPCG and the Port of Bar, as well as that it will soon regain ownership of Željezar through EPCG, and that it intends to buy "Port of Adria" as well.
"We are returning to the state what was sold for nothing in the past years. I expect that the unified Port of Bar, with a good operator, will bring the state not five but one hundred million euros in profit annually," Abazović said.
He stated that the Government first received information that all social partners agreed on the General Collective Agreement, and then that they did not: He said that the Government will support the OKU text on which the broadest agreement was reached.
Milan Maric from the PKCG committee for information technologies, he asked for the formation of a coordinating body for digital transformation, which is foreseen in the 2021 strategy. Abazović said that activities related to digital transformation will be accelerated.
Ranko Jovovic from the board for tourism, said that they have a large deficit of workers and proposed to legally define the status of permanent seasonal worker in accordance with Croatia, as well as to harmonize the law on student cooperatives, in order to facilitate the engagement of workers in tourism.
Minister of Economic Development Goran Đurović said that these are good proposals and that he will consider them and implement them as soon as possible.
Chairman of the Construction Committee Mile Gujić he pointed out the problem of the rising prices of construction materials, which is why many who got a job on state public procurement cannot finish the buildings at the price for which they got that job.
Abazović stated that they are looking for a legal solution to this problem and that he is willing to help those builders who were not late with their projects before the price increase.
Farmers used only 13 percent of the money from EU funds
Milutin Đuranović from the Food Industry Board said that the agricultural budget is insufficient and that measures and support for agriculture should be increased. He also stated that businessmen benefit greatly from the fact that Montenegro, among the few, did not increase the price of electricity.
Abazović said that the main problem in agriculture is not the amount of the agricultural budget, but the fact that farmers do not meet the conditions to be able to withdraw money from EU funds.
"Montenegro used only 13 percent of the money allocated from the EU for our agriculture, while Albania used 97 percent. That must change," said Abazović.
Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Joković said that Montenegro can withdraw 23 million euros from the new IPARD for farmers, but that most of the money will remain unused because there are no quality projects by farmers that meet the requirements.
Joković stated that a new law on agricultural land is necessary in order to protect this resource from construction, and that the biggest problem is fragmentation of agricultural land.
"In Germany, since 1903, agricultural land cannot be divided. If the owner has several heirs, only one who must continue the agricultural activity can receive it. In many EU countries, the right of priority to purchase agricultural land belongs to the one with which the property borders, in order to consolidate the property and not divide it," said Joković.
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