The EU executive will propose next week to allow citizens of Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia to travel to the bloc without visas from the start of next year, Reuters cited the EU justice commissioner as saying today. "A proposal will be made next Tuesday in Strasbourg to liberalise visas for nationals of the Western Balkans," Jacques Barrot told a news briefing in Brussels. "Under this proposal, the new regime comes into force on January 1." The proposal will have to be formally approved by the EU's 27 justice ministers, although unanimity would not be required. Barrot said the first countries covered would be Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, while Albania and Bosnia should follow later in 2010, provided they meet certain requirements. EU officials say Macedonia has already met EU standards for visa liberalisation, which include adequate border monitoring, introduction of biometric passports and steps against crime and corruption. Montenegro and Serbia were expected to be able to meet all conditions by the year-end. Barrot said the Netherlands remained reluctant to offer concessions to Serbia given Belgrade's failure to clear up war crimes issues dating back to the Yugoslav war of the 1990s. "Certainly the reluctance of the Netherlands on Serbia remains a important issue, but there will be strong advocates around the table, so I think we will win," Barrot said. "We will not punish the Serbian youth due to poor conduct of (Slobodan) Milosevic," he said in reference to the Serbian wartime leader who died while on trial in the Hague. Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said that while the Netherlands opposed ratification of an agreement that would allow Serbia to progress towards the EU until Belgrade cooperates fully with the Hague war crimes tribunal, it was not opposed to visa liberalisation.
