Tag: visa liberalisation

As Europe's political and economic weight declines and Turkey is consolidated as a regional power, cooperation on economic issues will be increasingly supplemented by cooperation in other areas in order to maintain a geopolitical balance in the region and limit the presence of external players, says Stratfor.

The EU's stringent visa requirements are hampering business contacts and investment opportunities between Europe and Ukraine, warned Konstantin Yelisieiev, the country's ambassador to the EU.

Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, in charge of enterprise and industry, has pleaded for easing visa requirements on foreign tourists, starting with nationals from Russia, China and Brazil. In an exclusive interview with EurActiv, he said the proposal could deliver much-needed growth for Europe in times of crisis.

The Commission has confirmed reports that citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an EU hopeful for which Brussels lifted visa requirements in November 2010, could again be subjected to the cumbersome procedure, due to the large number of asylum-seekers from this country.

A visa action plan adopted at the recent EU-Ukraine summit is a success for Kyiv, but the hardest task will be meeting the European Union's expectations on democracy, tackling corruption and the rule of law, writes Marta Jaroszewicz from Polish think-tank the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in a February commentary.

EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy described the EU-Russia summit held yesterday (7 December) as "wonderful" while European Commission President José Manuel Barroso described it as the "best summit in which I have participated so far with Russia".

The EU is honouring its visa liberalisation promises to the Balkans but has explicitly excluded Kosovo – the ''ugly duckling'' of the region – and must come up with a tangible perspective for its citizens, writes Gunda Schumann, a former staff member of the EU's EULEX rule of law mission in Kosovo, in a commentary sent to EurActiv Germany.

Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina moved a step closer to gaining visa-free travel to the Schengen zone after its parliament extended the mandate of the head of an anti-corruption agency on Wednesday (1 September).