Tirana Times Editorial
TIRANA, Feb 9 – In a recent government meeting, Prime Minister Sali Berisha floated the idea of granting Albanian citizenship to foreigners who invest 100,000 euros or more in Albania.
At this time, it appears to be a proposal set for public debate not backed by an actual plan or draft law. So it is not entirely clear who the government would try to target with this type of investment plan. We also don’t know if the government will actually write up a bill and send it to parliament any time soon.
However, the idea of offering Albanian citizenship to anyone who can pay for it – particularly requiring such a small investment – is dangerous and presents a multitude of problems. This newspaper believes extreme caution is warranted.
If the program is indeed aiming to attract foreign investment, at 100,000 euros, it is a ridiculous proposition. Albania needs serious and large investors — companies that can bring real change in the sectors in which they operate and proper economic development that benefits the country in a large scale.
What can 100,000 euros bring in term of investments? It would primarily be services — cafes and restaurants – of which Albania already has too many. Albanian Statistical Institute data paints a scary picture of Albania’s economy. It shows 65 percent of businesses are restaurants, bars and coffee-shops.
We are not against the general idea of giving foreign investors incentives to invest here. But these incentives should be given to investors in priority areas for the country’s economy — things like large energy and tourism projects. And tourism services should also be seen as foreign investment when they come from large tour operators and established international corporations, not tiny, unknown companies or individuals with 100,000 euros to park.
The actual amount of investment is only part of the equation. The idea of giving citizenship to foreign nationals for a price should also be seen as a potential safety risk. For starters, it could jeopardize Albania’s visa-free travel access since this country has taken on certain obligations with the Schengen area in order to get the travel benefits it finally enjoys.
That’s because people involved in criminal activities, or worse, could try to take advantage of such program, setting up formal investment structures to spend 100,000 euros in Albania in order to obtain citizenship.
It is clear the Albanian government can have no expectations of seeing EU citizens (Greeks, Italians or Germans), let alone Americans or Australians, line up to get Albanian citizenship. The people who would want to invest 100,000 euros to get an Albanian passport will likely come from countries that are worse off than Albania.
There is also the question of whether the government needs to better argue its proposals before making them public. There was little more than fluff in how the prime minister discussed the idea.
The opposition for its part is already ringing alarm bells about the proposed idea, but its officials are also adding that the government could use the proposal as a way to increase the number of votes it gets from ethnic Albanians in neighboring Macedonia and Kosovo, who can, theoretically become citizens of Albania faster through this investment scheme.
Many speculations can be made as long as the government doesn’t provide a more concrete proposal about how it plans to implement such a program, but it’s important to note that, with or without a properly thought plan, putting Albanian citizenship up for sale is not a good idea.
