Daily: Issue of reintroduction of visas postponed

BELGRADE Negotiations on reintroduction of visas for Serbian citizens have become so complicated that the EU has postponed them, daily Vecernje novosti writes. “The negotiations have failed which means that a mechanism (for reintroduction of visas) will not be adopted any time soon,” European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur Tanja Fajon told the daily. Daily: Issue of reintroduction of visas postponed Fajon explained that the negotiations had failed because certain EU member states, led by Germany, wanted to open chapters of the mechanism that had already been already. The EP, European Council and European Commission have been consulting on the proposal to reintroduce the mechanism that would suspend the visa-free regime. “The only thing left to do was to agree on reciprocity. The only remaining open issue did not directly refer to the Western Balkans. It was about the EP’s request to determine a possibility for the EU to automatically suspend the visa-free regime with a certain state that introduces visas for some EU member state, just like it was recently the case in relations between Canada and Czech Republic. And instead on agreeing only on that, some member states reopened the issue of the Balkans,” Fajon stressed. The daily has learnt that those are the same countries that requested that the mechanism be adopted as soon as possible – Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. “The EP came up with a proposal that is very flexible and much better for the Western Balkans than the original text. We have scrapped quotas and introduced formulation that says, among other things, that the visa-free regime can only be suspended in cases of extreme number of asylum seekers. It was agreed that it would remain so and to only discuss reciprocity from now on. Some countries, led by Germany, however requested changes to the reached agreement, which we did not accept,” Fajon was quoted as saying. Even though it was expected that the mechanism would be operational in early January, it is now clear that it will not be adopted soon. “The EP will now have a harder stance than before. We will not be so flexible toward EC’s proposal because we are not satisfied with the work of the European Council thus far,” she explained. Fajon said that Serbia and other Western Balkan countries could now automatically continue to use the visa-free regime without any restrictions. However, she stressed that the Western Balkan countries needed to continue and reinforce efforts aimed at reducing the number of false asylum seekers. (Beta, file) Vecernje novosti

Daily: Issue of reintroduction of visas postponed

Fajon explained that the negotiations had failed because certain EU member states, led by Germany, wanted to open chapters of the mechanism that had already been already.

The EP, European Council and European Commission have been consulting on the proposal to reintroduce the mechanism that would suspend the visa-free regime.

“The only thing left to do was to agree on reciprocity. The only remaining open issue did not directly refer to the Western Balkans. It was about the EP’s request to determine a possibility for the EU to automatically suspend the visa-free regime with a certain state that introduces visas for some EU member state, just like it was recently the case in relations between Canada and Czech Republic. And instead on agreeing only on that, some member states reopened the issue of the Balkans,” Fajon stressed.

The daily has learnt that those are the same countries that requested that the mechanism be adopted as soon as possible – Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

“The EP came up with a proposal that is very flexible and much better for the Western Balkans than the original text. We have scrapped quotas and introduced formulation that says, among other things, that the visa-free regime can only be suspended in cases of extreme number of asylum seekers. It was agreed that it would remain so and to only discuss reciprocity from now on. Some countries, led by Germany, however requested changes to the reached agreement, which we did not accept,” Fajon was quoted as saying.

Even though it was expected that the mechanism would be operational in early January, it is now clear that it will not be adopted soon.

“The EP will now have a harder stance than before. We will not be so flexible toward EC’s proposal because we are not satisfied with the work of the European Council thus far,” she explained.

Fajon said that Serbia and other Western Balkan countries could now automatically continue to use the visa-free regime without any restrictions.

However, she stressed that the Western Balkan countries needed to continue and reinforce efforts aimed at reducing the number of false asylum seekers.