Mijo Kresic is head of Bosnia and Herzegovina's 'Anti-corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption' agency. The move, which meets the final criteria set by the Commission last July, can be seen as contributing to soothing nationalist tensions in the region after Bosnia's neighbours Serbia and Montenegro and Macedonia were granted the same privilege last year.
Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs have the opportunity to hold dual citizenship with Serbia and Croatia and could thus take advantage of the visa free regime whilst Muslims had no way of gaining entry rights until now.
"Bosnia and Herzegovina has removed the last condition (needed) for liberalisation of the visa regime," said parliament chairwoman Dusanka Majkic following an assembly session.
She said she expected that the remainder of Bosnia's citizens "will be able to travel to Europe this year".
The country also had to set up a system for exchanging electronic data between police and prosecution bodies, harmonise regional criminal code with its national level equivalent and allocate sufficient financial resources to fighting organised crime.
The European Parliament's Committee for Civil Liberties (LIBE) is meeting today (2 September) to decide whether Bosnia has satisfied all conditions for removing EU visa requirements for its citizens after the Commission had submitted proposals for the move in April (EurActiv 08/04/10).
"I think that [the committee] will adopt a positive report, which will later be sent to the European parliament and [EU] Council of Ministers," Bosnia's Security Minister Sadik Ahmetovic told AFP.
He expected that the decision to lift visas for Bosnian citizens travelling in the Schengen zone for up to 90 days could be made "in October".
"I expect that Bosnian citizens will be allowed to travel to the EU without visas this autumn, if there are no serious problems," Ahmetovic said.
Elections in the autonomous Muslim-Croat Federation and Republika Srpska regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina are also due to be held this autumn.
There, the prospect of European integration is seen as helping ethnic groups form a common vision for the state after MEPs had earlier this year expressed concern at the secessionist rhetoric exchanged between communities.
