The Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nenad Nešić, told Klix.ba that the Austrian Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, asked him to align BiH’s visa-free regime with the European Union, which in practice would mean the introduction of visas to Turkey, Russia and China.
“The Minister of the Interior of Austria asked me to introduce visas”, said Nešić, adding that the introduction of visas for Azerbaijan, Bahrain, China, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Russia and Turkey was requested, according to the obligation arising from the Agreement on the visa-free regime between of BiH and the European Union from 2010.
However, he said that there was no official request from the institutions of the European Union.
“I believe that agreement can be reached in BiH to introduce visas to certain countries, which the European Union is asking us to do. However, we must respect our internal structure, our specificities, our history. We must understand that certain countries such as Turkey and Russia cannot reach agreement at the BiH level to introduce visas to their citizens,” said Nešić.
He added that a step forward can be made in order to achieve visa harmonization with the European Union.
“I would like BiH to make a positive step forward and show that it is a partner of the EU, that one or more countries, where an agreement can be reached at the level of BiH, introduce visas and show that we are part of Europe’s collective security and that the EU belongs to us. Likewise I state that visas cannot be introduced to certain countries to which we are bound by history, friendship and business interest,” said Nešić.
He emphasizes that he believes that some common solution could be found, to show good will towards the EU, but also to protect our interests.
