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Whoever buys an apartment in the Port of Durrës, the government gives him an Albanian passport

2022-11-11 21:18:23Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Whoever buys an apartment in the Port of Durrës, the government gives him
Edi Rama

The Albanian government plans to offer an Albanian passport or residency to foreigners who agree to buy an apartment in the buildings it plans to build in the Port of Durrës in the controversial navy project. The news comes from a copy of the draft agreement between the government and private companies, which is undergoing an expedited parliamentary review, while it was privately negotiated directly by government officials.

"Foreign investors who buy directly from the property of the Strategic Investor in the Project will have the right to apply for citizenship and/or permanent residence of the Republic of Albania," is written in article 10.11 of the project agreement. According to her, "the specific conditions and regime that will be determined by a decision of the Council of Ministers on the basis of this Agreement and the fulfillment of the criteria required by the Applicable Legislation."

This measure is likely to cause concern in the European Union, an institution that has repeatedly made clear that such schemes sell citizenship.

The Albanian passport has gained value since 2010, when the Council of the European Union approved the abolition of visas for Albanian citizens. Consequently, Albanians can travel without problems to 65 countries, most of which are located in Western Europe. This has made wealthy citizens of non-democratic countries, such as Saudi Arabia, seek to obtain an Albanian passport to travel without problems to the countries of the Schengen area. In June 2020, following a journalistic investigation, the Albanian police were forced to arrest three senior officials and a specialist on charges of human trafficking after they had issued residence permits to citizens from the Middle East on the basis of false documents.

The Albanian government has not hidden its desire to offer passports to "foreign investors" despite repeated criticism from the European Union.

In the latest progress report, the European Commission writes:

"Regarding citizenship, Albania should refrain from developing a citizenship scheme for investors (golden passports) because this scheme poses a risk in relation to security, money laundering, tax evasion, financing of terrorism, corruption and infiltration by organized crime." The report notes that such a scheme "could be incompatible with the EU acquis". Acquis is the term that summarizes the body of rights and obligations of the member states of the European Union.

The European Union also enjoys the right to withdraw from the visa liberalization agreement with Albania in case Albania does not meet its requirements.

The Durrës Navy project consists of giving free land to a group of private investors, who in turn will have the right to sell the buildings. According to the plan, the vast majority of the project "will be financed by sales", i.e. a common scheme of Albanian builders who receive the building permit and sell from the ground up./BIRN


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