Since the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) has issued more than 390 solutions for economic citizenship.
Of these, 353 decisions have been made since February 19, when the Constitutional Court contested the decision prescribing the criteria for acquiring Montenegrin citizenship.
The process before the Constitutional Court "tied the hands" of the MUP for some time, and since then, 1.600 people have been waiting for a Montenegrin passport, based only on family reunification with a Montenegrin citizen.
The contestation of that decision does not refer to economic citizenship, but reflects the different attitude of the state towards the categories that pay "fat" for a passport, compared to those who need the document to exercise their basic rights.
The Center for Civil Liberties (CEGAS) asked the Ministry of Interior for data on the number of applications received for obtaining Montenegrin citizenship based on the Special Investment Program of special importance for the economic and economic interests of Montenegro, as well as data on the number of applications for family members of applicants who under 18 years of age. They requested data for the period from January 1 to November 17, but also separately from February 19, when the Constitutional Court contested the decision by which, in addition to the economic one, citizenship of Montenegro can be acquired.
"In accordance with Article 12 of the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship and the Decision on the criteria, method and procedure for selecting persons who can acquire Montenegrin citizenship by admission, for the purpose of implementing a special investment program of special importance for the economic and economic interest of Montenegro, by the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Interior in the period from 01. to 01, 17 proposals for acquiring Montenegrin citizenship by admission based on a special program (economic citizenship) were submitted for 11 applicants and 2022 members of their families (217 spouses and 217 children), while in the period from February 473 to November 157, 316, 19 proposals were submitted for the acquisition of Montenegrin citizenship by admission on the basis of a special program (economic citizenship), namely for 02 applicants and 17 members of their families (11 spouses and 2022 children)" , he writes in the answer Radovan Popović, Acting Director General of the Directorate for Administrative Affairs, Citizenship and Foreigners of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
They asked CEGAS for data on the number of positively resolved requests. From the MUP, which he heads in a technical mandate Filip Adzic, they said that from January 1, based on the proposal of the Prime Minister (now already in the technical mandate, ed.) Dritan Abazović, issued 393 decisions on the acquisition of Montenegrin citizenship by admission on the basis of a special program (economic citizenship). Of these, 118 applicants and 275 members of their families, i.e. 95 spouses and 189 children, received a Montenegrin passport based on economic citizenship.
From the total number of passports that have been granted on the basis of economic citizenship since the beginning of the year, from February 19 to November 17, a total of 353 decisions were made, 106 for applicants and 247 for their family members (85 spouses and 162 children).
In 2021, Montenegro received 241 applications for 807 persons to acquire citizenship based on investment, while by the end of last year, 264 Montenegrin passports were issued on this basis.
"Vijesti" yesterday published another warning from the European Commission (EC) on the economic citizenship program, because of which, as they state in the report, among others, Montenegro is threatened with the abolition of the visa-free regime.
"If it is estimated that such programs represent an increased risk for the internal security and public policy of the member states, the visa-free regime may be suspended," says the fifth report on the monitoring of the visa-free regime of the European Union (EU) with Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, which was published on the EU website.
It recommends that Montenegro should urgently harmonize its visa policy with the EU when it comes to third countries, especially those that represent irregular migration or security risks for the Union.
The EC stated in the report that Montenegro has not undertaken anything to harmonize the visa policy regarding the list of third countries that require a visa.
And CEGAS has repeatedly indicated the obligation to abolish economic citizenship for, as they state, several reasons.
"Non-transparency, the possibility of political influence, a suitable ground for corrupt practices and trade in freedom, are the reasons for insisting on its abolition. Europe has been constantly warning us in recent years, but the interest of our leading elites in the possibility of increasing economic opportunities has always prevailed. The granting of economic citizenships has continued continuously, and for these reasons I do not expect anything to change in the foreseeable future. We are not in a position to see the concrete reasons for obtaining citizenship, as well as the concluded contracts, from the assigned solutions and opinions," said the executive director of CEGAS. Marija Popović Kalezić.
She is of the opinion, as she said, that because of this, Montenegro "will suffer criticism for no reason".
"And then the consequences of those who constantly point out to us the obligation to cancel this award," she said.
According to Popović Kalezić, it is also debatable that those who demanded the abolition of economic citizenship while they were in the opposition, as soon as they came to power began to advocate for that program.
"Nevertheless, the financial interest is stronger than the European one, for all governments, including the 43rd Government", said the executive director of CEGAS.
The economic citizenship program, with a plan to last three years, was launched in 2019 by the previous government of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). It was foreseen that in three years (from January 2019 to the end of 2021) 2.000 passports would be "sold", so due to weak interest, the Government Zdravka Krivokapića planned to abolish it at the end of 2021.
However, on December 30, 2021, it decided to extend the program until the end of 2022, with the explanation that investors did not have time to complete the projects due to the covid crisis.
Minister of Finance Aleksandar Damjanović on Monday, at the session of the Parliamentary Administrative Committee, he said that next year the state can earn up to 70 million euros from the economic citizenship project and emphasized that the entire process of economic citizenship in 2020 and 2021 was conducted in a non-transparent manner.
"The decision to extend the program is of great concern to the EU in the context of its visa-free regime agreement with Montenegro," the EC report states, adding that "this oversight is necessary because investor citizenship schemes can be used to circumvent visa procedures." for a short-term stay in the EU and in-depth assessments of individual migration and security risks that this procedure implies".
They are waiting for the decision of the Constitutional Court
On February 19, the Constitutional Court challenged the Decision on amending the decision on the criteria for determining the conditions for acquiring Montenegrin citizenship by admission, and it is still in force.
From the moment of entry into force, that is, from February 19, as they said from the MUP, that department does not resolve submitted requests.
"We will wait for the decision of the Constitutional Court. So far, we have submitted 1.936 requests... and at the same time, around 1.600 requests are for family reunification with a Montenegrin citizen", the MUP answered to CEGAS.
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