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No hope for visas liberalisation
Diplomatic diary
Tirana, Oct. 31, 2008 (AENews) – Foreign Minister of Czech Republic Karel Schwarzenberg said today in Tirana that “there are very limited possibilities to achieve liberalization of visas for the Western Balkans during Czech presidency of European Union. Czech presidency expires in December. European Commission officials promised to Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia, full liberalization of visas in January 2009. Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Frattini declared this week in Tirana that liberalization of visas can be done in mid-2009. Newspapers in Tirana considered such a declaration a means to hide the real reason of the visit. Italy and Albania signed some controversial agreements in energy project and the promise for liberalization of visas was used simply to shift attention.
“We are working on it and we hope for a decision within our presidency”, Mr. Schwarzenberg said. “But I would like to be honest. I see that there are really so few possibilities for a concrete decision on this”.
An EU Commission draft-report scheduled to be released officially on Nov. 5, concludes that Albania had not yet fulfilled the required criteria for liberalization of visas.
