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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia to initial agreements on visa relaxations and readmission today in Brussels

Belgrade, 11 April 2007

Director of the Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Tanja Miscevic stated that Serbia will initial the agreements on visa relaxations and readmission today in Brussels which will allow a large circle of Serbian citizens to obtain visas faster for travelling to EU countries.

Tanja Miscevic

In an interview for the daily “Vecernje Novosti” Miscevic stressed that the single agreement on readmission will also be initialled, which will regulate the return of illegal immigrants to Serbia.

According to Miscevic, businesspeople, elementary and secondary school and university students as well as employees in the civil service who are often required to travel to EU countries in an official capacity are included in the categories of citizens for whom visa relaxations are valid.

Others who will be able to obtain visas easily and faster will be participants in sports competitions, patients, journalists, representatives of civil societies, close family members of those who are legally employed in the EU, lawyers, architects, doctors, representatives of religious communities and tourists who use the services of tourism agencies with credibility in EU countries, said Miscevic.

Similarly she pointed to the fact that citizens will be able to obtain visas through the simpler process when the agreement comes into force, most probably from January 1, 2008, since this procedure is quite long in the EU and also in Serbia.

Miscevic explained that the European Commission must first get authorisation from EU member countries for signing the agreement, and that part of the work might finish by September. She added that then the agreement will reach the European parliament, and it will also have to be ratified in Serbian parliament.

Speaking on the number of Serbian citizens who entered the EU illegally, and who will be returned, she stressed that the exact number of such citizens will not be known until they are returned.

Serbia has a constitutional obligation to take back its citizens, and it will also be Serbia’s obligation to accept those immigrants, who illegally entered the EU through Serbian territory, concluded Miscevic.