Passengers who will travel to the Schengen zone from the countries with visa-free regime, including Great Britain, might pay 5 EUR to enter the Schengen borders.
Due to increased terrorist activity at the territory of EU last year, the European Commission will submit a proposal for the charging of entrance fee for citizens who come from countries that are not members of the EU into the countries of Schengen, and it is a part of a new rulebook of the EU about traveling, called ETIAS.
As it is stated in the description of the proposal, everyone who enters EU from the countries of the visa free regime will be subject to detailed checkups in the Europol and Interpol database, as well as in the Schengen information system used by the security agencies to monitor border crossings. If the entrance is allowed, it will be valid for five years, unlike the American ESTA system that is valid for two years.
The European Commission foresees that the implementation of this system will cost around 230 million EUR and if the European Parliament and member countries approve it, already in 2020 it might be applied.
The price of five EUR is lower than expected and everyone under 18 will not be subject to the fee. Some of the media reported that this tax will amount to 50 EUR for countries of the former Yugoslavia, thus increasing the doubt that the EU wants to reduce the circulation of passengers from the Balkans by increasing the tax prices.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH Igor Crnadak confirmed that certain taxes might be charged for citizens who come from countries who are not members of the EU, but he did not confirm the amount, and he also said that the citizens should register three days prior to entering the Schengen zone.
The ETIAS system should primarily accelerate the administration and the process of passenger movement, and the application of this system would help discover illegal immigrants.
(Source: ba.n1info.com)
