Citizens of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro will be offered free travel within the EU's Schengen area from the start of next year, under plans due to be unveiled tomorrow (14 July) (EurActiv 10/07/09).
The proposal will have to be formally approved by the EU's 27 justice ministers, although unanimity will not be required.
Schengen area countries include all 27 EU member states with the exception of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Bulgaria and Romania, plus a number of non-EU countries such as Norway and Iceland.
Kosovars, Muslim Bosniaks excluded
The Young European Federalists (JEF), a pro-European political movement which claims no party affiliations, said the move - despite going in the right direction - would create new divisions and unfairly punish citizens in the Western Balkans.
The consequence of offering visa-free travel to the three Western Balkan countries will penalise Muslim Bosniaks and the citizens of Kosovo, JEF claims.
It is likely to be interpreted by the population as "anti-Muslim", Peter Matjašič, secretary-general of the Young European Federalists (JEF), told EurActiv.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has benefited from the same 'roadmap' for visa liberalisation, but due to inter-ethnic divisions, the country has failed to make progress in its EU accession process. Its citizens thus still need visas to enter the Schengen area.
However, JEF points out that while Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats will be able to claim dual citizenship and visa-free passports, Bosnian Muslims will not have that opportunity.
As for Kosovo, its citizens will remain excluded from the visa liberalisation scheme. Acknowledging EU divisions over the legal status of Kosovo (Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus and Romania have not recognised its independence), JEF sees contradictions in EU policies toward the former Serbian province.
In fact, many residents of Kosovo have applied for new biometric passports issued by the Serbian government, but the European Commission says their holders will not benefit from visa-free travel if they are residents of Kosovo.
"If Kosovo is considered part of Serbia, Kosovars should be allowed visa-free travel like the rest of the country. In contrast, if Kosovo is recognised as an independent state, it should be brought on the road to visa liberalisation," JEF claims.
JEF stops short of claiming that the visa liberalisation schemes punish only the Western Balkans' Muslim population. However, it quotes a 24-old Bosniak who grew up in Sarajevo during the siege of 1992-1995, who said: "Victims are expected to accept that [war criminal still-at-large] Ratko Mladic will have a better passport than them, [and will] thus be allowed to travel visa free."
Diplomats recently told EurActiv that there were fears in EU circles of a wave of ethnic Albanian migration, especially from impoverished and crime-ravaged Kosovo, but also from within Albania itself.
