It's a shame that the internet is a virtual medium, because there are a lot of people out there that I'd like to express my deep feelings of friendship to, and having spent the last two years here in Serbia, I'd like to do it in a truly Serbian way.
Bosnia Debates EU Visa-Free Requirements
Sarajevo | 22 July 2009 | Srecko Latal
“From the technical, we have now moved to a political phase and in this phase everything is possible,” the chief negotiator, Samir Rizvo, said at a roundtable on the issue held on Wednesday.
Rizvo and other Bosnian officials told the meeting - organised by Sarajevo University’s Alumni think-tank, ACIPS - that Bosnia has fulfilled more than half of the 45 unmet requirements identified by the EU in April.
Most of the remaining issues are now being acted upon, Rizvo said. He stressed that, in his opinion, the country could meet all remaining conditions by September.
While the implementation process ultimately depends on local politicians, a final decision on Bosnia’s visa-free regime will also depend on political developments in the EU, Rizvo said.
Depending on the capability and flexibility of local and EU leaders, Bosnia could be granted access to the visa-free regime by the end of the year, but it could be forced to wait until mid-2010 or even early 2011, he said.
Rizvo’s comments came amidst continuing public criticism and debate in the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe on European Commission, EC, visa-liberalisation recommendations, released last week. The EC plan proposes visa-free status for Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, but excludes Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country hold the EU presidency, stressed on Tuesday that responsibility for Bosnia’s failure to gain admission to the visa-free regime lies solely with local leaders’ ongoing political infighting and their incapability to meet agreed reforms.
Samir Rizvo and Mirko Lujic, the director of Bosnia’s State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA, welcomed the ongoing media and public debate on this issue. They said that it could better educate both local and EU decision-makers on the technical and political aspects of this difficult issue.
“All this public outcry…can lead to the decision-makers having a better understanding,” Rizvo said.
