TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, Dec. 21 – There was not a huge number of Albanians boarding buses, ferries or planes for Western Europe after the visa-free regime came into power last week to travel to most of the European Union.
The EU decided unanimously last month to end visa requirements for Bosnian and Albanian residents, but have warned the measure could be scrapped if it is abused for bogus asylum claims and illegal work. Police reported a couple of thousands of people going by plane to different European countries and a few hundreds by bus or car to neighboring Greece.
Local authorities rushed to note Albanians are causing no problems to European countries.
Albanians were effectively isolated from the rest of the world since World War II, first by the communist regime of Enver Hoxha and later because of travel restrictions imposed by EU countries after the communist regime was overthrown in 1990.
Authorities have warned their citizens not to abuse the visa-free regime to look for jobs or claim asylum in the EU, a problem faced by the 27-nation bloc after Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro were granted the same status last year, adding that strict controls would be made to prevent abuses so that the citizens could move freely through Europe.
The visa-free policy applies to the so-called Schengen zone of unfettered travel, which covers 25 EU member states, as well as three non-EU members — Iceland, Norway and Switzerland — but does not include Britain and Ireland.
