Vice-president Frattini in Belgrado voor start visa vrij reizen (en)

Vice President of the European Commission Franco Frattini i will visit Belgrade on Wednesday, 30 January 2007 to launch the visa free travel dialogue with Serbia.

" I am looking forward to coming to Belgrade tomorrow to officially open the dialogue on visa free travel. I am honoured to be opening the road we will need to walk together hand in hand, towards a common and shared goal of free movement. This is part of our common European future."

The Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner in charge of Justice, Freedom and Security, Franco Frattini, is coming to Belgrade to launch the first Visa Free Travel Dialogue. The Dialogue will be opened on the Serbian side by the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic. During his short visit VP Frattini will also meet with the Serbian President Boris Tadic.

The Council of the European Union on 28 January welcomed the intention of the European Commission to launch a visa free travel dialogue with Serbia and all other countries in the region and expressed its readiness to further discuss this issue, based on the Commission's forthcoming Communication on the Western Balkans. The Communication should define detailed roadmaps setting clear benchmarks to be met by all the countries in the region in order to gradually advance towards visa free travel. This would enable the Council and the Commission to closely monitor progress in necessary reforms.

Serbian citizens are from 1 January 2008 already enjoying the benefits of the visa facilitation regime which sets out uniformed visa application and issuing procedures for a broad range of categories of citizens ranging from students, sportsmen and women, cultural workers, journalists, people visiting family members living in the EU, people in need of medical treatment, economic operators working with EU companies, etc. The visa facilitation agreement also foresees a lower cost of visas (€35 instead of €60), longer duration of visas, free visas for children and pensioners, etc.

To find out more about Vice President Frattini's work please see his website http://www.ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/frattini/index_en.htm