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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Technical negotiations on readmission and visa relaxations to continue December 20

Belgrade, 8 December 2006

Director of the Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Tanja Miscevic said today that the Serbian delegation will travel to Brussels on December 20 where technical negotiations on the single agreement on readmission and the agreement on visa relaxations with EU representatives will be continued.

Miscevic told a press conference that the Serbian delegation is to prepare a draft of their version of the text of the readmission agreement during the next week.

She pointed to the fact that the aim of the agreement on readmission is to have a homogenous procedure between EU countries and Serbia, considering the fact that Serbia has already concluded several bilateral agreements on readmission with member countries.

Miscevic recalled that according to earlier statistics of the Council of Europe and European institutions, the readmission of some 100,000 Serbian citizens may be sought. She added that it is not expected that they will be returned to Serbia all of a sudden in huge numbers.

Head of the Office for International Cooperation and European Integration at the Ministry of Interior Drazen Maravic said that the intention is to conclude the agreements so that they come into force by the end of the next year.

Maravic said that by the middle of January a new round of negotiations on relaxing the visa regime and readmission will be held in Belgrade, and it is expected that they will be continued in the beginning of March.

He explained that before the agreements come into force it can not be expected that the visa regime will be relaxed for all EU countries, but it is possible that a certain member countries decide to do that earlier.

According to Maravic, the agreement on visa relaxations implies certain rights and advantages for Serbian citizens, while the country itself will benefit from effective implementation of the single agreement on readmission.

Maravic said that if the procedure of obtaining a visa for Serbian citizens is complicated to the current degree and if it is demanding regarding deadlines and number of entries, then alternative ways of entering EU countries will also be sought.

He pointed to the fact that the agreement on a relaxed visa regime is an instrument which is useful for moving closer to the aim of having a visa free regime with the EU.

Maravic said that Serbia has obligations and interests in helping her citizens who are in situations which have no legal grounds in the EU countries, and to work on reintegrating them into Serbian society. According to Maravic, considering the fact that both sides have rights and obligations in this process, EU member countries will provide financial help in implementing the agreement on readmission and complete reintegration of Serbian citizens into society.

Head of the readmission department of the Serbian Ministry of Interior Zorica Djokic said that since 1996 Serbia has concluded 13 bilateral agreements on readmission with 15 countries, of which 11 are members of the European Union.

Djokic specified that from 2003 when the Ministry of Interior took over the jurisdiction for readmission of citizens until November this year, Serbia received a total of 21,962 requests for the return of its citizens. After validation of citizenship and identity, 16,832 requests were approved.

She said that the return of all those proven to be Serbian citizens and whose identity is confirmed will be possible and explained that the country that submits a request for returning foreign citizens into their country of origin is the one that decides who, when and how they will be returned.