Right to freedom of movement is one of the basic human rights. It is impossible to establish stable and open society without free movement of people, flow of information and idea.

No communication - no reforms; no reforms - do democracy; no democracy - no stability. There is no civil society without active participation of citizens.

 

Let's abolish visas!

The Citizens Pact for South Eastern Europe Visa Abolishment Campaign was launched in year 2002, with the aim to abolish visas in the region and to liberalise the visa regime based on the Schengen Agreement. The new developments in the region, especially in the light of the different status of the SEE countries in relation to the EU are threatening with creation of a Schengen wall in South Eastern Europe, by isolating the Western Balkan countries from the rest of Europe. This conclusion is becoming a more and more urging factor for mobilising the relevant regional and EU actors. Based on the experience of the outcomes of the enlargement in year 2004, and the already announced new visa regimes which will be introduced in the near future in SEE by the new candidate countries, this black hole of Europe will stay out completely from a wider regional co-operation. Therefore the issue of visa regulations in SEE is remaining just as important as the question of visa facilitation from the EU side.

All the countries within the region bear a heavy burden of communism and almost all of them have experienced war, directly or indirectly. They are all trying and they are all expected to build modern and functional political systems that will make them welcome in the European family. However, the existing inflexible visa regime between the countries of the region and the Schengen signatories is becoming a serious obstacle in forming new generations of politicians who will be capable of doing it. The data which shows that around two thirds of all the students in Serbia had not travelled outside the country is the best argument for acknowledging this problem. The nineties in Serbia were years of the worst possible war-mongering machinery and it is terrifying that it still dwells, in a way, in the heads of young, isolated people.

This obstacle is becoming even more dangerous the more the Schengen borders match those borders of the enlarged EU. Since Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Albania will not join the Union in foreseeable time, in case the existing visa regimes remain equally strict, there is a certainty that a ghetto will be created within the region of Southeast Europe. The only stability we shall be talking about in that case, when we speak of South Eastern Europe, will be the stable source of conflicts. From January 1 next year, Bulgaria will be forced to introduce visas to the countries in the region. Last year almost 600 000 Macedonians vacationed there next year this number will be very, very different. Very soon, Croatia will have d to make the same step, although the free visa regime between Croatia, BiH and SCG was of an extreme importance for the development of normal relations after the war.

We want this campaign to influence the governments in the region to work more and faster on reforms in order to meet the criteria for the white Schengen list, and at the same time we want to influence Brussels to show that the Schengen Agreement does not have to be the basis for a harmful isolation.

Visa liberalisation would be a logical progression for the Western Balkans countries in their SA processes. That feedback from Brussels would present a positive signal, as a visible result and motivating factor also for ordinary citizens in the region and that way mobilise a popular support for building EU member states in the Balkans

More about our campaign you can find on www.needvisa.net