European Commission Albania: Call back golden passports scheme, or risk visa suspension

The EC has indicated that if they do not give up, such a proposal could lead to visa suspension.

“This is a major concern for the EU under its visa-free agreement with Albania. The Commission thinks that if such schemes are estimated to pose an increasing risk to the internal security and public policy of the Member States, the visa-free regime could be suspended”, the statement said.

The Commission said Albania has followed most of their recommendations made earlier, however, the report stressed that Albania has also presented measures that conflict with the EC's recommendations regarding the approach, as well as the programme of citizenship, thus stressing further progress necessary for specific issues, among them removing the plan to introduce the Golden passport scheme.

The Golden passport scheme allows wealthy foreigners who contribute financially to Albania and meet specific demands to obtain citizenship in this country. Often, however, criticism has come from the scheme that it is an open door for many illegal relatives.

Despite the European Commission's recommendations, authorities in Albania have earlier stressed that there is nothing to worry about about implementing this scheme.

The commission continues to call on all member states that run such programmes to interrupt them as soon as possible. /montor. al