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Agreement on visa relaxations to be signed on September 18 in Brussels
Belgrade,
29 August 2007
Head of the Office for International Cooperation and EU Integration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Drazen Maravic said today that the agreement on visa relaxations and the single agreement on readmission between Serbia and the EU will be signed on September 18 in Brussels.
In a statement to the news agency Tanjug, Maravic specified that on the same day other West Balkan countries will also sign these agreements, which are a first step towards establishing visa free regime with the EU.
Following the signing of agreements, Serbian parliament should adopt the law on ratification of these agreements, which will come into force on January 1, 2008, explained Maravic, who is also a member of the state team for negotiations on visa relaxations and readmission with the EU.
He pointed to the fact that visa relaxations apply to all possible segments, such as the number of documents necessary to submit and the period of time in which Serbian citizens are informed whether they have been issued a visa to an EU country or not.
Visa relaxations will be approved to certain categories of citizens , such as members of official delegations, students, pensioners, citizens who are visiting EU countries for medical treatment, businesspeople, journalists, members of professional associations, lawyers, doctors, sportspeople and other.
The Serbian delegation made efforts to minimise the number of documents needed such as the students’ registration card and invitation letters to travel to EU countries, while for businesspeople an attestation from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce is required as well as an invitation letter to the EU country in question.
The single agreement on readmission envisages return of some 100,000 to 150,000 people to Serbia who are living in EU countries illegally.
This agreement also includes citizens of other countries who may return to Serbia only if they are able to prove that they did not enter Serbia illegally, and those who illegally crossed Serbian borders into an EU country.
Following the signing of agreements, Serbian parliament should adopt the law on ratification of these agreements, which will come into force on January 1, 2008, explained Maravic, who is also a member of the state team for negotiations on visa relaxations and readmission with the EU.
He pointed to the fact that visa relaxations apply to all possible segments, such as the number of documents necessary to submit and the period of time in which Serbian citizens are informed whether they have been issued a visa to an EU country or not.
Visa relaxations will be approved to certain categories of citizens , such as members of official delegations, students, pensioners, citizens who are visiting EU countries for medical treatment, businesspeople, journalists, members of professional associations, lawyers, doctors, sportspeople and other.
The Serbian delegation made efforts to minimise the number of documents needed such as the students’ registration card and invitation letters to travel to EU countries, while for businesspeople an attestation from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce is required as well as an invitation letter to the EU country in question.
The single agreement on readmission envisages return of some 100,000 to 150,000 people to Serbia who are living in EU countries illegally.
This agreement also includes citizens of other countries who may return to Serbia only if they are able to prove that they did not enter Serbia illegally, and those who illegally crossed Serbian borders into an EU country.
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