Montenegro, Macedonia Win EU Visa-Free Travel - by James Neuger
The European Union proposed visa- free travel for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia, extending some benefits of its common market to the Balkans. Citizens of the three will be able to enter most of the EU without visas once EU governments give approval. Passport holders from three neighboring Balkan countries -- Bosnia- Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo -- will still need visas. “We know how much visa-free travel means to the people of the western Balkans,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told a Brussels press conference today. “European integration is not only a matter of integrating nations, but also peoples and citizens.”
The move gives a fillip to EU entry hopes of Balkan countries, which have been stunted as the EU grapples with the economic crisis. Serbia, the largest ex-Yugoslav republic, has had its bid for closer ties blocked by the Netherlands, while Greece is barring the way for Macedonia.
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