Web-Site with Information for Visa Seekers Launched

Dejan Georgievski
Citizens� Pact for South Eastern Europe

19 December 2006

The Citizens Pact for SEE (CPSEE), a Novi Sad, Serbia based NGO working to abolish the strict visa regime installed by EU countries for citizens of Western Balkans, presented its new web-site (Need Visa) offering information about necessary documents and procedures to visa seekers.

Rajko Bozic, Admir Gerlek from JEF and Petar Mladenovski from ska-punk bank "Superhics" at the launch

The presentation was held in cooperation with FEJS MK (Macedonia branch of the Federation of European Journalism Students), as well as with organizations involved in the �Visa � Forget It!� campaign organized in Skopje and other 20 cities all over Europe on November 9, to protest against the Schengen Visa Regime.

Rajko Bozic from CPSEE explained that the fight to abolish the visa regime towards the Western Balkans countries continues, helped bz the fact that the visa abolishment is a �rather sexy� topic at this time, both in SEE and in the EU. In his view, the first serious results are expected in the Spring of 2007, and Macedonia has advanced the furthest in the process of abolishment of visas.

Bozic says that the efforts focus on two big prejudices. The first exists in the countries in the region and can be reduced to the claim that we can do nothing to change the regime and that we depend on the political good will in the countries of EU.

In his view, this assumption is false for two reasons. First of all, the countries in the region don�t work hard enough to fulfill the requirements set by the EU, in spite of the fact that they know well enough what the requirements are, and have known them for years now.

�Second�, says Bozic, �if we, who are directly concerned with the visa regime do nothing, we should hardly expect for it to interest those who are little touched by it, if at all�.

The second prejudice, on the other hand, exists in the EU and demonstrates, according to Bozic, that �EU politicians are the same cowards as ours here�. The prejudice is that Schengen protects Europe from a wave of immigrants and from the organized crime.

�That claim is ridiculous. The trial of the killers of Prime Minister Djindjic has shown, for instance, that these people involved in most serious organized crime activities, have all possible visas in their passports�, says Bozic.

On the other hand, those that truly want to leave � and we know that the big cities of Western Europe are filled with Bosnians, Macedonians, Serbs and Albanians, will find a way to get a visa. Only last week, the general consul of a European country was arrested on suspicion of selling visas for a hefty price.

In addition to past campaigns, border-crossing actions and other activities, CPSEE has recently launched the Need Visa web-site, offering information on the activities in the fight against the visa regime, as well as information on the necessary documents and procedures that need to be completed by people wishing to travel from the Western Balkans to any European country.

At the moment, Need Visa offers information only in English. According to plans, the site will be translated and available in the other languages used in the countries of Western Balkans as soon as possible.