Applicants could soon be removed from visa ‘blacklist’

Date: 13/01/2000

By Simon Coss

ROMANIA and Bulgaria could soon be removed from the EU's 'blacklist' of countries whose citizens must obtain a visa before entering the Union, under plans drawn up by the European Commission.

Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner António Vitorino will call for the change when he unveils proposals to update the Union's 'visa regulation' later this month.

Officials say removing Sofia and Bucharest from the blacklist is the obvious next step following the decision taken by EU leaders at their summit in Helsinki

last month to open formal negotiations on Union membership this year with six more applicant states, including Bulgaria and Romania.

Both countries have welcomed the plan to lift the compulsory visa rule. "We are very happy about this and are looking forward to the change. We have been nagging the EU for years on this question," said Bulgarian government spokesman Vasselin Valkanov.

The tone in the Romanian camp was more cautious, but officials nevertheless heralded the move. "We will have to see precisely what conditions are set out in the proposal but it certainly seems to be a step in the right direction," said one.

Both countries have complained bitterly for years about the fact that they are still on the blacklist. They point out that it is more difficult for their citizens to visit the EU now than during the Communist era, when certain member states had less rigorous bilateral travel agreements with the old totalitarian regimes, and say that being on the list also poses practical and economic problems, making it harder to develop their national tourism industries and trading links with the Union.

Romania and Bulgaria could soon be removed from the EU's 'blacklist' of countries whose citizens must obtain a visa before entering the Union, under plans drawn up by the European Commission.