A European Commission experts’ mission was pleased with the steps Albania has taken to fulfil the three added benchmarks for the visa-free roadmap, according to the Interior Ministry.
Tirana Times
TIRANA, july 15 – The European Commission reported Thrusday their services, with the participation of independent experts from the EU Member States, had completed a technical mission in Albania in the context of the visa liberalisation dialogue.
The mission verified on the spot progress against the outstanding requirements identified in the Commission proposal on lifting the short-stay visa obligation for Albanian citizens, as adopted on 27 May 2010.
On the basis of the experts’ reports, the Commission services will prepare their assessment on the fulfilment of the outstanding requirements. This assessment will be presented in September to the European Parliament and the Council, which will then decide about the lifting of the visa obligation for citizens of Albania.
Further on the EC office statement continues to makes some clarification on what the new visa-free regime will mean to Albanians.
It says that short-stay visa liberalisation allows for visa-free travel in the EU for up to 90 days (per six-month period). For longer stays, a national long-stay visa is still required and must be obtained from the consulate of the EU Member State of destination. Moreover, short-stay visa liberalisation does not apply if the purpose of the journey is work or employment. In this case, a visa and work permit is still required.
EU experts perform checks on visa-free benchmarks
A delegation of the European Commission experts arrived in Tirana to evaluate efforts to join the bloc’s visa-free travel regime.
No official schedule for the visit has been set but besides meeting with all top law-enforcement officials in the country they will also check all the institutions in charge of security.
The delegation will be determining whether local authorities are exerting enough effort in the areas of law enforcement, fighting crime and corruption and confiscating criminal assets.
The findings will be considered in the drafting of the final decision on Albania’s and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s readiness to join the visa-free regime, expected by October.
In a statement of the Interior Ministry Wednesday they were quoted as being satisfied with the progress they had noticed in Albania.
An EC top official of the foreign relations and enlargement department, Luigi Soreca, and his deputy Vassilis Maragos also met with Albanian interior Minister Lulzim Basha. They were said to have been pleased with what Albanian authorities had done referring the added benchmarks in the fight against organized crime, corruption, drug trafficking and that of human beings.
Basha said that the Albanian government was fully committed to fastly complete the added benchmarks so that the visa-free regime comes to force later this year. Meanwhile Tanja Fajon, the Slovenian lawmaker of the European Parliament in charge of the visa-free regime for Albania and Bosnia, said she had already prepared the draft resolution which the parliament is expected to vote.
Fayon mentions the progress of both countries in all the technical aspects required from Brussels and urges the parliament to vote in favor, something that will be done likely in September
Following the approval of the new regime for these two countries it will be the EC’s Council of Ministers (Interior Ministers) who should give the final okay and the decision comes into force 20 days after it is published in the Official Gazette.
