EU lifts visas for three Balkan states

BRUSSELS, Nov 30 – The European Union will allow visa-free travel inside the bloc for Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), and Montenegro from December 19, but keep restrictions on Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, EU ministers have agreed Monday.
Serbia, FYROM, and Montenegro fulfilled benchmarks for border controls, passport security, and fighting corruption and organized crime to get the visa restriction lifted.
Albania and Bosnia have yet to meet all the conditions and the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, is likely to review their progress next year.
Berisha had a phone call with EU Commissioner on Security and Justice Jacque Barrot letting him know Tirana’s further steps to fulfill the benchmarks of the country’s roadmap on visa regime.
An EU delegation of experts is to visit the country in mid-December to see the steps taken by the government and then report to the European Commission.
Tirana hopes that Brussels is to decide to lift the visas for Albanians in mid-2010.
All five countries hope to join the EU, which has made visa liberalization an important part of its policy to increase cooperation with the Balkans.
The EU on Monday abolished visa requirements for citizens of FYROM, Montenegro and Serbia but kept them for people from three other nations in the western Balkans.
A statement by the EU’s ministers of justice and home affairs said the visa decision takes effect on Dec. 19.
It will apply 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.
The move toward visa liberalization removes one of the major irritants in relations between the 27-nation bloc and the nations of the Western Balkans. Critics said the strict visa requirements hurt the EU’s own plans to integrate the region into the bloc.
The lifting of the visa requirements will abolish long lines in front of Western embassies, which many locals considered humiliating.
The EU said citizens of Albania and Bosnia still need visas to travel to the 27-nation bloc, but this will be reevaluated in 2010. Europe’s newest nation, Kosovo, has not yet been included in the visa liberalization program, EU officials said.
“By simplifying the mobility of the citizens … of [FYROM], Montenegro and Serbia, the EU will further foster the contacts between the Union and these countries and open a new era in our cooperation,” Barrot said.
Citizens of the three nations enjoyed visa-free travel to Western Europe for 40 years as part of the six-member Yugoslav federation – the only communist country that allowed its citizens to travel freely abroad.
Visa requirements were first introduced as the federation was breaking up in 1991.
Slovenia, a former Yugoslav republic that is now an EU member, was the first to be removed from the list and Croatia followed.