Friday

29th Mar 2024

Balkan travellers to get cheaper EU visas

  • Belgrade has yet to finish the visa facilitation deal with the EU (Photo: Konrad Zielinski)

People from four Balkan countries will in future benefit from cheaper and easier EU-entry visas after a new travel deal signed at the weekend, but Serbia is not in the group despite EU worries over young, alienated Serb radicals.

Macedonia signed the agreement in Brussels on Friday (13 April) while Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro signing up on the sidelines of a meeting in the Croatian capital Zagreb between internal and justice ministers of south eastern Europe on Saturday (14 April).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Under the agreement, citizens in the four countries will pay €35 for a so-called Schengen visa instead of the €60 which was set last year.

Businessmen, students and journalists will have more simplified procedures when applying for the visas, while diplomats will need no visa to enter the Schengen zone – which consists of the 15 "old" EU member states except for Ireland and the UK but including non-EU members Iceland and Norway.

There are no visa requirements for EU citizens visiting any Western Balkan countries.

The deal also concluded "readmission agreements" forcing the countries to take back any of their citizens found to be in the EU illegally.

"We have reached an important milestone. The conclusion of the negotiations on these agreements will directly benefit citizens," said EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini.

"They are a clear and practical sign of our progressive and increasingly closer cooperation," he added in a statement.

By relaxing its visa rules, the EU says it hopes to encourage the historically tumultuous Western Balkan countries to reform and stabilise their laws and economies.

Serbia lagging behind

However, Serbia – which started visa facilitation talks at the same time as its four neighbours – has yet to finish the negotiations.

Belgrade refused to agree to the return of foreign nationals who had entered EU countries as illegal migrants from Serbia, reports Serbian news agency FoNet.

"I regret that Serbia was not part of the group that proceeded to conclude the negotiations on visa facilitation," said EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn on Monday (16 April).

"However, it is a matter of relatively technical considerations and I am rather confident that we can overcome the remaining difficulties shortly," he added.

German centre-right MEP Doris Pack - who regularly visits the Western Balkans as the chairwoman of the European Parliament delegation for relations with the countries of south-east Europe - told EUobserver that it was high time for the EU to provide visa facilitation for the Western Balkans.

"We cannot ask them to behave in a European way if we don't give them a chance to come to the European Union and to speak with Europeans – they are totally outside," she said on Friday (13 April) at a conference in Sarajevo on the future of the Western Balkans organised by the German Konrad Adenauer foundation.

Serb radicalism threat

EU governments have in the past expressed concern at increasing radical nationalism among young Serbs which they fear could lead to serious tensions in the country.

Ksenija Milivojevic, head of the Serbian European Movement, a pro-integration group, argued in Sarajevo that an open visa regime in the Balkans would "offer real support to the European idea."

"You cannot expect that a 25-year-old who has never crossed the border to understand Europe and the benefits of joining the European Union and therefore to fight for such a move," she said.

"It takes quite a lot of effort to get over the Schengen wall," Ms Milivojevic added.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us