The Committee for Justice and Civil Affairs (LIBE) of the Parliament of Europe rejected a proposal yesterday to reintroduce the visa regime for third countries, including countries in the Western Balkans.
The Rapporteur for the European Parliament for Visa Liberalization and European Parliamentarian Tanja Fajon confirmed to Anadolija Agency that the LIBE Committee rejected a draft resolution on Monday to introduce a mechanism of suspension of the visa-free regime for western Balkan countries with 33 votes ‘for’ and seven votes ‘against’ and three abstentions.
“In negotiations with European governments and the European Commission we will not give in under pressure of certain member states of the EU that would immediately introduce rules for the suspension of the visa-free regime for citizens of third countries, and especially for citizens of the western Balkans’’, said Fajon.
She noted that individual EU countries have openly threatened countries in the western Balkans with the reintroduction of visas. She warned that the reintroduction of a visa regime to countries in the western Balkans would be a very detrimental step for the European aspirations of those countries.
