'Anti-Montenegro demands an end to golden passport program - Europe of the Western Balkans'

This has allowed Montenegro to receive more than 310 million euros. About 188 million euros are currently in a separate account to which foreigners applying for a passport have transferred their money, while the rest has been transferred to the accounts of the state and investors building tourism projects. It seems that the economic citizenship program has only been able to attract investors in the tourism sector, and the economic development of undeveloped''municipalities are not likely to be the main impact of this program. As Lazar Grdinich of the NGO IANS points out, one of the main problems with the program is that most of the money goes to the real estate market. He gives the example that since the second phase of Porto Montenegro has been included in the list of developing projects, buying real estate here will mean fulfilling the conditions for applying for Montenegrin citizenship.

The EU's measures to end the economic citizenship program

Montenegro is not the only country using this mechanism to attract capital inflows. Several EU countries had citizenship or residency programs for investments in past years. While''Bulgaria and Cyprus have passed legislation to end their citizenship by investment programs, the EU has sued Malta over the issue. At the same time, 12 EU member states have a residence-by-investment (RBI) program or so-called 'golden visas', which do not allow investors to obtain citizenship but entitle them to permanent residence. In March 2022, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that highlights the risks and problems associated with citizenship or residence-by-investment programs and calls on EU members and applicants to end such programs and implement stricter rules to regulate residence-by-investment programs. The resolution also points out risks such as''money laundering, corruption and tax evasion, and emphasizes that "the contribution of investment-based citizenship/residence programs to the real economy of member states is limited in terms of job creation, innovation and growth, with significant amounts invested directly in the real estate market or in funds". In addition, "it is noted that the risk lies in third countries with investment-based citizenship programs and visa-free EU visa restrictions due to the possibility of acquiring citizenship of such third countries for the sole purpose of being able to enter the EU without further verification" and "it is emphasized that for EU candidate countries with programs to obtain''tax payments, terrorist financing, corruption and infiltration of organized crime'." It also recalls that the Commission recommended suspending the citizenship program "as soon as possible" in the 4th report on the visa suspension mechanism.

Lazar Grdinić says that Montenegrin authorities initially expressed understanding for the EU's concerns and promised to end the program by the end of 2022, but they later ignored their commitment, "possibly because some EU member states have similar programs, besides the obvious economic incentive." Another problem he points out is that the current government is on a technical mandate and "is not recognized by legislation or legitimized''the will of the citizens, but makes decisions solely at its own discretion and possibly guided by the interests of others'. It remains to be seen how long Montenegro will be able to ignore the EU's calls and the risks associated with the golden passport program, and what the unraveling of Montenegro's political crisis means for potential investors who are eyeing a Montenegrin passport along with real estate on the Montenegrin coast.

'