Serbia received road map for visa regime liberalization with the EU

May 7, 2008, 15:49 GMT

Belgrade - European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot on Wednesday handed to officials in Belgrade a road map for visa regime liberalization with Serbia, a first step towards a visa-free regime.

'I bring to you a new proof of the EU's desire to make Serbia's European perspective concrete,' Barrot said while handing the road map to Serbian President Boris Tadic.

Barrot added that the road map is 'a strong and concrete sign of political engagement of EU towards Serbia' and he called on Serbia to once again affirm its political will in making closer ties with the European Union.

Sixteen EU member states plus Norway decided on Tuesday to abolish visa fees for most Serbs, as a first step towards later allowing them visa-free entry.

The decision was a response to a call by the European Commission, which on April 18 had proposed eliminating the unpopular 60-euro (93-dollar) fee for Serbs and citizens of other non-EU nations in the western Balkans as a sign of EU support for Serbia's moving closer to Europe.

Barrot said implementation of visa facilitation and readmission agreement was the key condition for visa regime liberalization.

Serbian officials pointed out that Serbia already fulfilled several conditions, including the production of biometric passports.

Road map for visa regime liberalization is seen by analysts as push for Serbia's pro European block in the early parliamentary elections on May 11.

The latest survey showed that the ultra-nationalist Radical party could win more votes than the pro-European block headed by Tadic, but that the gap between these two options has narrowed down to less than 100,000 votes thanks to the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU last week.

According to the survey conducted by Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) thinktank, the Serbian Radical Party could win between 1.4 and 1.55 million votes in Sunday's snap poll, closely followed by the pro-European block with between 1.35 and 1.5 million votes.

The survey also showed that caretaker Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia could win between 450,000 and 500,000 votes, the fiercely pro-European Liberal Democratic Party between 270,000 and 330,000 votes, and the bloc around late strongman Slobodan Milosevic's Socialists between 250,000 and 320,000 votes.

Regardless who wins the most ballots, neither Radicals nor Tadic's pro-European block would have enough seats to form a government. This would put increasingly nationalist Kostunica once again in the position of kingmaker.