Visa-free travel still just a dream for Serbia-Montenegro citizens

22/03/2006

Despite progress on the road to EU membership, it remains unclear when Serbia-Montenegro might obtain a relaxed visa regime for travel to the Schengen countries.

By Jelena Tusup for Southeast European Times in Belgrade – 22/03/06

Citizens of Serbia-Montenegro need visas to travel to most countries in the world. [AFP]

Although Serbia-Montenegro has started talks with the EU on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), it remains unclear when the country's citizens might gain the right to travel to Schengen countries without a visa. Politicians say they are doing all they can, but few are willing to speculate about a timeframe.

Milan Parivodic, Serbian external economic relations minister, hopes this could happen in 2007. Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, however, is less optimistic. "I believed that Serbia-Montenegro would be taken off the visa regime through the act of signing an SAA with EU. This is not going to happen," he says.

There are five sets of terms that Serbia-Montenegro must meet in order to apply for joining the "white Schengen" list: Efficient border control, a stable political and economic situation, co-operation with the EU, good relations with neighbouring countries, and eliminating the visa regime for EU countries. The last term is the only one Serbia-Montenegro has completely fulfilled, having abolished visas for 40 countries, including the United States.

In other areas, the two constituent republics have achieved different levels of progress. For instance, police in Montenegro have taken over border control from the army, while in Serbia the process is barely under way.

Because the EU's "double track" approach doesn't apply to border and visa issues, better communication and co-operation between the republics is crucial, says Vlada Ljubojevic, of the foreign ministry. But such co-operation has proved elusive. Relevant laws should be enacted by the federal parliament, but the body rarely holds sessions, and when it does, its work is very slow and politically influenced.

For now, Serbia-Montenegro citizens are able to enter Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Macedonia without visas. Outside the region, the list of countries where they don't need visas isn't long -- it includes Cuba, Russia, Tunisia and a few others.

Some say the biggest problem, as far as visas are concerned, is the large number of Serbia-Montenegro citizens -- including many from Kosovo -- who are in the EU illegally or are seeking asylum. According to Bernhard Hauer of the German Embassy in Belgrade, in Germany alone there are 100,000 people from Serbia-Montenegro who do not have permission to stay, and each one costs Germany around 600 euros monthly.

Meanwhile, 68 per cent of Serbian students have never been outside of Serbia. That might change next year, since the Commission for the Balkans has suggested that Brussels apply the SMART visa regime, which would make it easier for some groups of citizens to travel. Students, artists, athletes and members of the business community from Serbia-Montenegro should, if the programme applies, get Schengen visas more easily and quickly.