jef - EU creates new divisions in the Balkans

EU creates new divisions in the Balkans

EU creates new divisions in the Balkans

Response to the Commission's planned partial visa liberalisation of the Western Balkans

Jacques Barrot and Olli Rehn will announce the Commission's recommendation to lift the visa requirement for Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia (without Kosovo) by 1 January 2010 in Brussels next Tuesday. The initiative to create a Schengen White List for Western Balkan countries is the right step to take. However, it creates new divisions and anti-EU sentiments by leaving out some citizens in the region.

This week, Secretary-General of the Young European Federalists (JEF) Peter Matjašič visited Sarajevo to talk to local partners about the problem of visa liberalisation. “It is important that the Commission considers the implications if Bosnia and Herzegovina is left out of this process, consequently leaving Bosniaks as the only inhabitants of BiH without the ability to travel without visa limitations” he sums up his experience.

The situation is especially problematic as the effects of the Commission’s new visa regime will contribute to further ethnic separation on a formal level. Bosniaks (mainly Muslim Bosnians) represent the majority of Bosnians and have, in contrast to Bosnian Serbs and Croats, no dual citizenship with Serbia and Croatia. Thanks to laws in neighbouring countries, Croats and Serbs have the chance to get a second passport, while most Bosniaks will be left without that chance. This means that the new EU visa policy will only, and formally, exclude and discriminate one part of Bosnia’s population. Additionally, this will happen on ethnic grounds, thus playing into the hands of nationalists.

Morally speaking, the effects of the new visa regime will be even worse as the announcement will come three days after the 11 July, the annual commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide in 1995. As the 24 year old Amar, who grew up in Sarajevo during the siege from 1992-1995, said to Deutsche Welle TV: "Victims are expected to accept that Ratko Mladić will have a better passport than them, thus be allowed to travel visa free..."

On 14 July 2009, the Commission should recommend visa free travel to all citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. President of JEF-Europe, Samuele Pii says “European foreign policy can only be effective if its carrots and sticks are credible. There is no technical, political and moral justification not to recommend the same for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Residents of Kosovo, however, will remain excluded from the lift of visa restrictions because of diverging positions on Kosovo’s legal status. This is a contradiction in itself: if Kosovo is considered part of Serbia, Kosovars should be allowed visa-free travel like the rest of the country. In contrast, if Kosovo is recognized as an independent state, it should be brought on the road to visa liberalisation. Either way, it would be fair and efficient to promote the joint integration of Serbians, Serbian Kosovars and Albanian Kosovars in the European family by simultaneously lifting visa restrictions for all the citizens living in the Western Balkans.

“JEF has been fighting for a visa free and united Europe for a long time and strongly believes that travelling across Europe is the best recipe against nationalism”, stresses Samuele Pii. Thus, the European Commission and European leaders as well as national politicians should stop creating new divisions in the Balkans and focus on bringing much needed trust and confidence in the EU’s ability to deliver and contribute to positive change.

Press Contact:

Peter Matjašič | +32 495 501383

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Secretary-General of JEF-Europe

JEF international seminar in Tarxien, Malta | 17-23 March 2010

“The ultimate solution for a better life: (im)migration?” is an international seminar organised by JEF-Europe and JEF-Malta in Tarxien, a small village in the south east of Malta from 17 until 23 October 2010.

When speaking about immigration it is important to make the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. Despite the obvious difference in their legal status, immigrants in both categories often feel unwelcome and excluded from their host societies, which is closely linked to xenophobic attitudes widespread across Europe and openly manifested especially in recent years, but also the lack of adequate policies and assistance of governmental institutions in host countries.