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EU comes out against 'golden passports': They encourage organized crime and money laundering
The European Union asks the Albanian government to abandon the project to sell Albanian citizenship.
Although the Albanian government is looking for foreign investors who can bring their money to Albania and benefit from Albanian citizenship, the European Union has expressed reservations regarding the application of the "golden passport".
Ana Pisonese, spokeswoman for the European Commission, tells Euronews Albania that these projects risk the involvement of organized crime and money laundering schemes.
"The risks include the infiltration of organized crime, money laundering, tax evasion and corruption through potential applicants coming from third world countries. The Commission considers these schemes contrary to EU law and has launched infringement procedures against Member States in 2020. Due to the future perspective of membership in the European Union, citizenship of candidate countries may become attractive to investors.
This is already happening during the accession processes, as the candidate countries develop closer relations with the EU and can give the right to their citizens to enter the Schengen area without the need for a visa for short periods of time", says Pisonero.
The EC spokeswoman says that such schemes can endanger the country's interests. While adding that the European Union is monitoring the attitudes of all candidate countries regarding passport procedures.
Through a VKM, the government has decided to grant a part of the procedures with a concession.
Two foreign companies will offer 2 services, that of advertising the Albanian passport and checking the image of the person who will be able to request to receive the Albanian passport.