Visa, A Hot Political Issue

TIRANA, June 16 – Albania’s politics gave a different assessment after EU foreign ministers discussed visa liberalization on Monday.
Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha said that Europe’s decision was “a major step towards the process of removing the visas regime with the Western Balkan countries and fulfilling the desire of our citizens to move freely and without visas in Europe.”
The opposition and the local media said that Albania had failed to meet the EU criteria for the visa liberalization, unlike the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Albania should work more to meet the EU conditions so that it can benefit from visa-free travel.
The European Commission aims to make fresh recommendations next month on easing visa requirements. The European Council – the assembly of EU leaders – will make the final decision, only after the 27 EU governments and European Parliament have considered the commission proposals.
The EU welcomed the progress made by Albania and other Western Balkan countries in meeting the benchmarks set out in the visa liberalization roadmaps, said Basha, who also added that the “Council welcomed the progress achieved so far and recalls that the countries concerned should continue to focus on full implementation of these benchmarks.”
Basha again promised that the major objective of the government was “abolition of visas for Albanian citizens within 12 months.”
The same pledge was also made by the opposition.
They are both made during an electoral campaign and both sides aim at attracting as much attention as possible from Albanians on an issue that is so important to them.
The EU Observer magazine gave a big call in favor of visa liberalization for the Balkan countries. “At times the Balkans can deliver a positive surprise. Over the past year, five countries in the region have carried out fundamental reforms that will help to protect them and the EU against organized crime and irregular migration.”
Western Balkan countries have worked with remarkable speed and determination to meet close to 50 conditions set out in “visa roadmaps” issued by the European Commission last year.
“The ultimate reward, attractive to both citizens and leaders of these countries, is visa-free travel to the Schengen area,” it wrote. “Now the ball is in the EU’s court.”
Even though all Western Balkan countries have been potential or official candidates for EU membership, their citizens have continued to queue for visas – a time-consuming, stressful and often expensive affair with no certain positive outcome.
And it is normal that in their minds, the visa requirement has cast serious doubts on the credibility of the European perspective of their countries.
It is likely that the European Commission and a critical number of EU member states realized that the situation was to the EU’s disadvantage not only for political reasons, but also from a law enforcement perspective.
The union needs improved co-operation with competent law enforcement bodies in the western Balkans – surrounded on all sides by EU member states – in order to fight irregular migration and organized crime more effectively.
In 2006 the EU first offered the Western Balkan countries visa facilitation (easier visa application procedures) in return for readmission agreements (which allow EU countries to return migrants found to have arrived illegally to their countries of origin or transit). This was followed in January 2008 by the current visa dialogues centered on the roadmaps.
Between January and March of this year, 15 missions comprising law enforcement experts sent by the member states, as well as commission officials, went to the western Balkans to do the most thorough analysis of the state-of-affairs in these areas ever undertaken.
Putting all the countries, including Albania and Bosnia together with Montenegro and Serbia, in the white list so that they get a visa free regime when they meet all conditions, is the way through which the EU will strengthen its credibility in the region, create a fertile ground for wider reforms, and encourage cross-border co-operation between ever more competent institutions to fight common threats.
Earlier this month the EU Commissioner for Justice, Jacques Barrot, said five Western Balkan nations were on track for visa liberalization. He said the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had shown “good progress” towards meeting EU conditions; Serbia and Montenegro had shown “progress”, while Bosnia-Hercegovina and Albania had shown “some progress” but still had to improve in some areas.
All five countries are keen to join the EU, but their membership talks are at different stages.