Visa Liberalization

TIRANA, May 26 – The European Commission presented Tuesday to the EU Member States updated assessments of the implementation of the visa liberalization roadmaps by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
The updated assessments of the implementation of the roadmaps towards visa liberalization represent a further step in the visa dialogue process that the Commission started with five Western Balkans countries in early 2008. The first assessments were presented in November 2008.
The submittal of this second set of Commission assessments to the Council represents the completion of an intense phase of activity. During the first quarter of 2009, the Commission carried out a series of field visits and expert meetings in the countries concerned. 15 expert missions have taken place (3 in each Country) with the participation of Member State experts and 4 expert meetings were held covering the policy areas identified in the Roadmaps of the individual countries.
The updated assessments are based on the information gathered during the field missions, collected by Commission Delegations as well as provided by EU Member States. The Commission received the first comments of the Member States on its assessments. Bearing these in mind, the Commission will finalize the reports and transmit them to the countries concerned.
Vice-President Jacques Barrot, in charge of Justice, Freedom and Security, said, “I am very satisfied by the efforts made by the countries of the region in implementing the Roadmaps and by their excellent co-operation in the organization of the expert missions and I am looking forward to the comments and views of the Member States. Bearing them in mind, I will present as soon as possible a proposal to the College to abolish the visa obligation for the citizens of the country/countries which will have met the benchmarks of the roadmaps. I am confident that visa liberalization with all the countries of the Western Balkans is a tangible prospect.”
Albania does not meet benchmarks, that was the experts’ conclusion on the country. If EU member states follow the Commission’s assessments and apply the strict conditionality they have themselves defined, then they will offer Macedonia visa-free travel, while (for the moment) denying it to Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“It appears that Albania does not yet fully meet all the benchmarks specified under block 1 of the Roadmap. The issuance of biometric passports under a secure personalization procedure could not be assessed during the period covered by this updated assessment report.” (Because too few passports issued so far.)
“It appears that Albania does not yet fully meet all the benchmarks specified in block 2 of the Roadmap. Further progress remains to be made in particular in the areas of border and migration management.”
“Albania has made some progress in the area of public order and security, but it appears that it does not yet fully meet the benchmarks under this block.”
“It appears that Albania is on the right track to meet the benchmarks under this block. Additional efforts should be concentrated on protection of minorities and fight against discrimination.”
Despite the very clear words in the report Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha was optimistic and said that Albania had marked progress in the four blocks of the roadmap _ issuing of new IDs and biometric passports, border management, fighting corruption and the rule of law, and the human rights.
Basha repeated the government pledge that Albanians will have visa free status within the first year of their second mandate. That pledge has also been made by the opposition Socialist Party leader.
Securing a visa-free status has turned into a main topic of the political parties in their electoral campaign ahead of the June 28 parliamentary polls.
European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot called for scrapping of visa obligations for the citizens of the Western Balkan countries that met the conditions.
“I am confident that lifting the visa requirements for all Western Balkans is a likely perspective,” said Barrot.
Albania is not included among the countries that will profit visa liberalization in the near future.
Albania signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement in June 2006. It was ratified by all the EU member countries until January this year and then it came into force April 1. Then by the end of April Tirana also handed over its application for the candidate status.
But Brussels has made it very clear that holding free and fair elections is key for its near future progress in the integration process.
The visa liberalization roadmap and its decision not to include Albania in the countries that are to profit visa linearization means that the government and the one to come after the June 28 parliamentary elections.
A key condition is equipping the population with biometric passports, something that Albania has started but very few of them have been distributed.
While Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey are candidate countries, Albania is among potential candidates together with Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosova, Montenegro and Serbia.
The European Union could rapidly lift visa requirements for citizens of Macedonia, but those in Serbia and Montenegro do not yet fulfill the conditions, according to a European Commission report.
The report, posted on the Internet site of the European Stability Initiative, said Macedonia alone met criteria for document security, illegal immigration, public order, external relations and basic rights.
Macedonia has been an official candidate to join the bloc since 2005 but it has not been given a date to begin accession talks.
Serbia, whose hopes of joining the 27-nation EU are being held up by the Netherlands over Belgrade’s cooperation with an international war crimes court, only gets top marks for document security.
It is deemed to have met “a majority of benchmarks” on the other criteria.
The EU already has eased visa restrictions for Serbia, making them since the start of last year cheaper and easier to obtain for students, athletes, journalists, people visiting family or working with companies in the bloc.
The report, based on information gathered by EU experts from January to March but not made public by the commission, gave the same score to Montenegro, which officially applied for EU membership in December.
Albania and Bosnia were deemed to be “on the right track” but do “not yet fully meet the benchmarks”. Kosova was not assessed and Croatians already have visa-free access to the EU.