European Official: Citizenship through Investment Is not Compliant with a Visa-Free Regime

Granting citizenship through investment is not compliant with a visa-free regime, the European official said. The granting of citizenship of the Republic of Moldova subject to anonymity is not a practice compatible with the liberalized visa regime proposed by the European Union for the Republic of Moldova, according to Deputy Director General for Europe and Central Asia at the European External Action Service Luc Devigne, who is on an official visit to the Republic of Moldova, cotidianul.md reports. At a press conference held on Thursday, February 20, in Chisinau, a European official mentioned a citizenship through investment program. “I want to mention the citizenship program through investments subject to anonymity. We do not consider this compliant with the liberalized visa regime. The question arises: how can the European Union accept a liberalized visa regime from a country that does not even know which people have become citizens and for what reasons have they become citizens?" Luc Devigne stated. He emphasized that the European Union notes that in the Republic of Moldova there is a need to fight corruption, depoliticize institutions and establish the rule of law so that “political influence and corruption remain in the past”.