Serbia, Macedonia welcome Schengen visa decision

Sat, Feb 11 2012

Thu, Jul 16 2009 13:25 CET

byClive Leviev-Sawyer

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Serbia, Macedonia welcome Schengen visa decision

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Serbian president Boris Tadic.

The recommendation adopted by the European Commission on July 15 2009 that citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia with biometric passports be allowed to enter the Schengen area visa-free from January 2010 has been welcomed by the countries’ governments.

Serbian media quoted president Boris Tadic as saying that the EC recommendation was "big news" for Serbian citizens, and he was glad that other countries in the region would also be receiving visa liberalisation, as that raised the standard of living in the region.

"Serbia is not only responsible for itself, but for regional cooperation, as the central state in South-East Europe," Tadić said.

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković echoed Tadić’s sentiments, but said that there was still much to be done and that the country should continue along the path it had taken.

"As of January 1, 2010, citizens of Serbia will be able to travel to European countries without visas and their personal dignity will thus be restored," Cvetković said.

In Skopje, Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski said that the EC recommendation, which will be referred to the European Council of heads of state and government and to the European Parliament, was a genuine success for his country.

"Macedonia is opening up to the world, the world is opening up to Macedonia," Gruevski said.

The Commission said in its July 15 statement that it "remains committed" to visa liberalisation for the citizens of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina too.

"However these countries have not yet fulfilled the conditions to be included in today's proposal," the European Commission said.

"If the pace of reforms is maintained and if all the conditions are fulfilled, the Commission could envisage making a new proposal including these countries by mid-2010."

Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina still need to continue their efforts to get a positive recommendation from the Commission.

"In Albania and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, shortcomings still exist in the institutional framework to fight against organised crime and corruption, in addressing weaknesses in the procedure for delivering passports, and in the areas of border and migration management."

Residents of Kosovo will not yet benefit from visa liberalisation either.

"The technical requirements for visa liberalisation have not yet been met on the territory of Kosovo. The Commission in this regard will continue to work closely with both the Serbian and Kosovo authorities and explore options for addressing the visa issue in the future," the European Commission said.

This caused disappointment in Bosnia and in Kosovo, and criticism from elsewhere in Europe.
"The visa policy for the successor states of the former Yugoslavia risks to create two classes of citizens in South Eastern Europe, based on ethnicity," reads a petition which started circling across Europe on July 15, and which has so far been signed by a veteran German diplomat and politician and former High representative to Bosnia, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, European parliamentary deputies Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Doris Pack, human rights activist Tilman Zülch, and scores of others, Balkan Insight reported.