EU to add back visa regulations for Western Balkans

A new bill on visa regulations will allow the European Commission to renew EU entry visas for citizens of FYROM, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia.

“The European Commission is free to decide whether or not the visa will become suspended, the key point is that this is not something that is compulsory for the commission,” Spanish conservative MEP Agustin Diaz de Mera, the European Parliament’s (EP) lead negotiator in the talks, said.

Short-stay visa requirements for the EU were lifted for the five Western Balkan countries in 2009 and 2010, but an upsurge of unfounded asylum demands made EU states reconsider the requirements. Although most asylum demands come from the Western Balkans, less than 5% of them receive asylum.