According to the previous regulations, Commission`s task was to conduct the visa liberalisation process independently, with political support of the Working Group for the Western Balkans (COWEB) included. If the EC would have estimated that Western Balkans countries have fulfilled all required conditions, the Commission would formulate the amendment respecting the 539/2001 Council regulation which in fact represents the listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when entering the EU and those nationals which are exempt of that requirement. This amendment, which refers to displacement from "black" to "white Schengen list", was expected to be confirmed by the EU Council and European Parliament.
But this procedure has been modified at the proposal of presiding France, with the support of Germany and Spain. Even though conditions for Western Balkans visa liberalisation have not been changed, every next move will be under the direct control of all 27 EU member states.
Dynamics and deadlines changeovers are caused by these circumstances, which were specified during Slovenia`s EU presiding. Serbian Vice-President Djelic has confirmed that, who announced to parliamentarians at the European Integration Committee`s session that Serbia`a government will adopt additional Action Plan at the beginning of December, which will define further steps in visa regime liberalisation process.
"However, this is not a guarantee that the European Union will abolish EU visas for Serbian citizens," said Djelic, adding that "new circumstances and global financial crisis have made all EU processes more complicated, including those regarding relations with Serbia".
He said that Western Balkans countries will analyse 40 main articles with the European Commission regarding visa liberalisation on December 18th, and that European experts are expected to visit Serbia at the beginning of 2009 so as to make sure that reforms are being carried out properly.
According to the some estimates from Brussels, 70 experts will have a task to check the fulfilment of all requested conditions in Western Balkans countries, and they should finish their reports considering each country separately before April 2009, in order to leave enough time for the European Commission to prepare an amendment on putting certain states on white Schengen list.
The estimate is ambitious, considering that in 2009 EU elections will be held, and that means that the European Parliament will not be in session from May until the October. And that indicates that there will be no opportunity to discuss on Western Balkans` visa abolishment before November 2009 at the best.
If so, visa relief could go, under the best possible circumstances, into effect on January 1st, 2009. But more realistic estimates indicate that it is impossible before mid-2010.
Besides, considering new procedure, it remains unknown how will the EU members effect on the Commission and is there a chance that these countries could eventually obstruct the process. It is certain however that Western Balkans countries will have to make "a crucial effort in their struggle against corruption and organised crime" on their own, taking the German`s Ministry for Internal Affairs official press statement as a reference, which underlines that it will be not discussed on visa abolishment before fulfilling conditions.
It is noticed that Serbian officials often suggest that Brussels decisions and global financial crisis are the reasons for postponing the visa abolishing process, without mentioning what has Serbia done indeed in fulfilling technical conditions for visa liberalisation.
European Commission has sent Western Balkans countries a report with evaluation over countries` readiness for liberalisation of the visa regime on November 28, whereby it is required from Belgrade to fulfil conditions regarding safety of the documents, illegal migrations, readmissions, public order and security, as well as fundamental law functioning.
Commission underlines that Serbia has managed to make certain progresses considering all four issues, but stresses that 40 standards still wait to be accomplished, and that official Belgrade has to offer answers and explanation on 70 mostly technical questions.
So far, there were no reactions from Belgrade, whereby Serbian officials have not insisted on substituting the old passport with the new biometrical documents, which is one of the conditions for visa abolishment.
European Integration Committee is so far the only institution which has appealed to the citizens to substitute the old travel documents with the new ones in order to speed up liberalisation process, also reminding that classifying on the "white Schengen list" depends on institution`s efficiency as much as on citizens themselves.
Local politicians in the region are, however, not the only ones irresponsible in realising projected goals, which would make our citizens` travelling across Europe easier. According to the European Citizen Action Service`s report, the percentage of people, whose Schengen visa application is rejected by EU countries, is the same as before implementation of the visa facilitation.
This research, focused on the effects of the agreements on visa facilitation which Serbia and other countries in the region have signed with EU, has confirmed that more important changes did not happen before the inquiry desks. One of this European non-governmental organisation`s conclusions was that considering the number of rejected visa requests Serbia and Albania are in slight unenviable position than other countries.
* Nenad Radicevic is a foreign affairs journalist with Politika daily. CEV magazine is an online publication of the Centre for European Values
