Following the recent press reports related to the position of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the process of visa liberalisation with the European Union, the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina would like to clarify the following:

The objective of visa liberalisation dialogue is to increase people-to-people contacts between the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans by lifting the visa requirement for travel to the EU, on the condition that the countries of the region meet clear benchmarks.  The visa dialogue will define these benchmarks and establish a road map towards meeting them. The roadmap will cover key issues such as document security, illegal migration, public order and security.

The Commission has addressed a number of questions to the BiH government related to these issues, including on the progress of police reform. Every step in implementing police reform, and in particular the adoption of the state level police legislation, will have a positive impact on this process.

The Commission is awaiting the BiH government’s answers.  Pending this reply, the EU hopes to be able to set a date for the opening of visa liberalisation dialogue with BiH in the near future.  What matters here is not the date when this dialogue is launched, but the ability of BiH to fulfil the conditions and thus achieve visa free travel to the EU.

EC Delegation’s Press releases will be mailed directly from our web-site. All media representatives are invitedto subscribe on this on-line service in order to continue receiving Press releases www.europa.ba