Prime Minister Dritan Abazović said that the Economic Citizenship Program is not in conflict with the interests of Montenegro, but he also said that he understands the fears of the European Commission in this regard.
Abazović, when asked if it is true that Brussels is seeking approval for a new model of economic citizenship, according to which the money would go exclusively to pay off the Chinese debt for the highway, said that the state is fulfilling all obligations so far without any problems.
"Since it is a huge amount of money, we have to see the best way to finance it," he told reporters after visiting the renovated building of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts.
"It is not new that the highway will not be sustainable in terms of traffic, we have to see what the options are. We respected what was stated, that we ended the economic citizenship program on December 31, 2022. All the applications that arrived until then are still being processed, everything that arrived later will not be considered," the Prime Minister pointed out.
"Personally, I think that economic citizenship is a program that does not conflict with the interests of Montenegro. I understand the views and fears of the EC. Given that we want to be part of the European family, we must respect the rules. There are EU countries that have economic citizenship, we have to see if there is form that would be acceptable to them. If there is none, of course we will not insist on it, we have already completed the program. If there is a form that would be interesting for both them and for us, in an economic sense, I think there is an opportunity to talk about it Considering that we are now in the phase where we have completed the program, I would not update it again," he added.
Bonus video:
