Press Release: Commission proposes visa free travel for citizens from the Western Balkans

Author (Corporate)
Series Title
Series Details IP/09/1138 (15.7.09)
Publication Date 15/07/2009
Content Type

The European Commission's long standing commitment to visa free travel for the people of the Western Balkans was confirmed on 15 July 2009, with the adoption of a proposal for granting visa free travel to the citizens of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The proposal enables the citizens of these three countries to travel to the Schengen countries with the new biometric passports. The Commission's proposal needs to be approved by the Council after having consulted the European Parliament.

The Commission 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 this proposal. 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.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1138&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Related Links
European Commission: Speech/09/342: Visa Freedom with Europe http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/09/342&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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