Macedonia has fulfilled all the conditions to allowed eased access to visas to European Union countries but other Western Balkans states would have a further wait, media reports on May 27 2009 said.
 
If the visa system is eased in the case of Macedonia, the change would be made on January 1 2010 at the earliest and March 1 at the latest.
 
Macedonia has fulfilled criteria including document security and steps against illegal migration.
 
However, some reports suggested that there could be a complication because EU ministers may want to take into account the "balance in the region". Macedonian daily Dnevnik quoted an unidentified European diplomat who said that this balance could be disturbed if visas are lifted only for one of the Western Balkans countries.
 
European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot said earlier that Macedonia fulfilled the benchmarks set in the roadmap for visa liberalisation.
 
From Belgrade, news website B92 said that according to the unofficial version of the European Commission’s report on easing the visa system, Serbia had completed most of the conditions required for liberalisation.
 
The European Stability Initiative (ESI) said that it had seen the document and that the EC had reported that Macedonia had fulfilled all conditions, Serbia and Montenegro most, while Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania still have to work on fulfilling conditions for visa liberalisation.
 
The EC has already eased the system for visas for Serbians. Fees for visa applications have been lowered and students, athletes, journalists and people who visit their relatives or work in companies in EU member states have easier access to visas.
 
ESI Senior Analyst Alexandra Stiglmayer said that it is possible that Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro would enter the visa-free regime for the traveling to countries of the European Union in January 2010.
 
From Brussels, Serbian news agency Beta said that the EC had announced that it was approaching the issue of lifting visas for the European Union to Western Balkans countries in "a very pragmatic manner" and based on facts.
 
Michele Cercone, spokesperson for the EC, made this statement in Brussels, emphasising that visa liberalisation for the Western Balkans was not as much a political issue as it was portrayed by certain media.