The visa facilitation and readmission agreements were signed today in a ceremony that took place in Brussels with the participation, from the EU side, of Vice President Franco Frattini (from the Commission) and Foreign Affairs Minister Rui Carlos Pereira (from the Portuguese Presidency) and, from the Western Balkan countries, of the Ministers of Interior of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Vice-President Frattini stated that: “The signature of the agreements is an important political decision towards closer cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkan countries in the sensitive areas of migration and movement of persons. The smooth implementation of these agreements, together with tangible progress in basic JLS areas, will enable the Commission to start a structured dialogue on a possible visa free regime for the citizens of Western Balkan countries in the future”.

Commissioner for enlargement, Mr Olli Rehn added: “I warmly welcome the signature of these important agreements. They are very important for the people of the Western Balkans and help to improve people-to-people contacts between the citizens of the EU and the region. They are a further proof of the EU’s commitment to the region’s European perspective. Now we expect proper implementation of both agreements, so as to pave the way for a dialogue on visa-free travel and its conditions with each of the countries of the region”.

Following the mandate given by the Council on13 November 2006, the European Commission started the negotiations of the nine Community agreements on 30 November and succeeded in finalising the whole process and initialling the draft agreements with all Western Balkan countries in April/May 2007.

Overall the agreements aim at at making it easier for citizens of Western Balkan countries, in particular those who travel most, to acquire short stay visas for the EU, whilst simultaneously putting in place clear rules for combating illegal immigration. The Visa Facilitation agreements make it possible to maintain the visa handling fee of 35€ instead of 60 € for all Western Balkan citizens and provide a total exemption from the visa fee for certain categories of applicants. Furthermore, for certain categories of persons, e.g. businessmen, students and journalists, the necessary support documents for a visa application are simplified. For certain categories of frequent travellers it is possible to issue multi-entry visas with long periods of validity. Finally, holders of diplomatic passports are exempted from the visa obligation.

The agreements on Readmission set out clear obligations and procedures for the authorities of both the Western Balkan countries and of EU Member States as to when and how to take back people who are illegally residing on the territories covered by the agreements. In this respect, the agreements cover not only the illegally staying nationals of both parties but also third country nationals and stateless persons being in an irregular situation provided they have a clear link with the requested Party (e.g. visa or resident permit). Full respect of Human Rights as provided by the European Convention of Human Rights is guaranteed during the application of the Readmission agreements.

EU citizens are already exempt from the visa obligation by the Western Balkan countries.

Pending the opinion of the European Parliament, the conclusion of visa facilitation and readmission Agreements is foreseen by November 2007. The finalisation of the ratification process and the implementation of the agreements by 1 January 2008 will  respect the extremely tight timetable set up by Council Decision 2006/440 and maintain the handling fees for all citizens of Western Balkan countries at 35 €. 

The effective implementation of the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements will ensure a better management of the migration pressure and will make it possible to envisage a structured dialogue along the path set out by the Thessaloniki agenda towards a visa free travel regime also for the citizens of Western Balkan countries. In this context, the Western Balkan countries are expected to accelerate the implementation of relevant reforms in basic JLS areas, such as strengthening the rule of law, fighting organised crime and corruption, and increasing their administrative capacity in border control and security of documents by introducing biometric data.