25 January 2019 - The time of the completion of Montenegro's negotiations with the EU, which have so far lasted for six and a half years, will also depend on how and to whom the Montenegrin Government will give economic citizenship. This new condition derived from the European Commission (EC) Report on the risks of investor citizenship and residential schemes in the EU.
"Concerning third countries setting up investor citizenship schemes, which may have security implications for the EU, the Commission will monitor investor citizenship schemes in candidate countries and potential candidates as part of the EU accession process. It will also monitor the impact of such schemes by EU visa-free countries as part of the visa-suspension mechanism," the EC Report said.
The part of the report on "third countries" states that candidate countries and potential candidates for EU membership "become more attractive to investors" given the prospect of becoming their citizens and the citizens of the EU.
This is, as stated in the EC Report, already the case as the citizens of the candidate countries and potential candidates have the right to enter the Schengen countries "for short stays," or for three months during the year.
“Investor residence schemes, while different from citizenship schemes in the rights they grant pose equally serious security risks to the Member States and the EU as a whole. A valid residence permit gives a third-country national the right to reside in the Member State in question, but also to travel freely in the Schengen area. While EU law regulates the entry conditions for certain categories of third-country nationals, the granting of investor residence permits is currently not regulated at EU level and remains a national competence,” says the Official Report.
The report maps the existing practices and identifies certain risks such schemes imply for the EU, in particular, as regards security, money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption. "A lack of transparency in how the schemes are operated and a lack of cooperation among the Member States further exacerbate these risks," the report finds.
It is expected, furthermore, that the countries concerned will have very robust systems for monitoring these programs, including systems to combat possible security risks, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption and infiltration of organized crime related to such programs. The EC sent a warning to the possibility of suspending the visa-free regime to Moldova, which is the third country mentioned in the report. In 2013, Moldova signed an EU Accession Treaty with the EU to apply the visa-free regime that has been in force since 2009 for Montenegro and most of the Western Balkan countries since the following year.
