No longer and not yet
Posted by popkitchen | Filed under politics
Serbian media report – as of January 2010, the citizens of Serbia (sans Kosovo), along with Macedonians and Montenegrins will be able to travel without visas to countries of the EU. Huge sign of relief was supposed to ensue, right? To me it seems that no one believes Europe just yet, because - hold your horses, this decision has to be confirmed November. The news arrived a day after a visit of Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy to Belgrade, on his South East European tour, marking his soon departure from this post. It has to be said that to the most Serbs, Solana will be remembered as General Secretary of NATO during the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.
Truth be told, it is good news of course, but it comes at the time when most Serbs are burdened with difficult economic situations and ambivalent about the parties constituting the Government (a strange marriage of Democratic Party, led once by assassinated Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and Socialist Party of Serbia, led once by infamous Slobodan Milosevic). Serbs are jaded. They are trained to first assume it is another carrot-and-a stick policy enforced upon them.
As for me, last time I was able to leave the country visa-free, I was 11. Now, I am getting close to 30. I should be more concerned with possibility of housing or car loan, good times to have kids, shift in my career, then with backpacking around Europe, flying low cost and getting drunk on a beach in Valencia.
Tags: EU accession, serbia, visa-free travel
July 15th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Yes, we have waited too long, but it’s always the right time to have it changed. I am really looking forward to see how it looks like
July 15th, 2009 at 8:20 am
I totally agree. It is a positive development. But a) it is not final and b) it has been too long, we feel like deflated balloons.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
[...] writes about rumours that the EU might lift visa regquirements for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia [...]
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:29 pm
i bet that piece of shit was a box office hit!