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Showing posts from March, 2008

Republic of Macedonia - Accession partnership

The Council adopted a regulation amending regulation 533/2004 on the establishment of partnerships in the framework of the stabilisation and association process for the Western Balkans (6686/08). The regulation is amended following the decision of the European Council in December 2005 to grant the status of candidate country to the Republic of Macedonia. Consequently, the name of the partnership with Republic of Macedonia will be changed from "European partnership" to "accession partnership".

Towards visa-free travel

The Commission is launching a dialogue with each of the Western Balkan countries on visa liberalisation. It will soon propose road-maps outlining conditions to be met before the visa obligation can be lifted. Visa facilitation agreements Citizens of the Western Balkan countries, except Croatia, still need visas to enter the EU. As a first step towards visa liberalisation, the Commission has concluded visa facilitation agreements with the Western Balkan countries. These agreements entered into force on 1 January 2008, together with respective readmission agreements [2] . The visa facilitation agreements substantially improve the conditions for obtaining visas for travel to the EU: they maintain a reduced visa fee (€35 instead of €60, presently required for citizens of third countries) and exempt broad categories of persons (e.g. students and pensioners) from these fees. They set time-limits for issuing a visa (normally 10 days). In addition, they simplify and clarify the procedures for