Eurasia Press & News
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini announced on Monday in Tirana that the EU will announce the visa liberalisation decision for Albania on July 2 at the Sarajevo summit.
“Italy backs the visa liberalisation process with Albania and we believe that the EU will take a positive decision on this issue in May of this year,” Frattini said in a joint press conference with his Albanian counterpart, Ilir Meta.
“The European Commission has analyzed the progress made by Albania and our political goal is that an announcement should be made on July 2, while the actual liberalisation would take place in the fall,” he added.
Albania and Bosnia were left out of the first wave of countries from the Western Balkans whose citizens were granted visa-free travel in the Schengen zone, which includes most of the European Union countries.
Citizens of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro received such benefits in December 2009.
