Bosnia may lose visa free status, EU says

Bosnia and Herzegovina could again be subjected to visa requirements due to its large number of asylum seekers, according to spokesperson from the EU Home Affairs Commission.

Following reports in the local press that the EU might re-introduce visas for citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michele Cercone, spokesperson of Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, confirmed that the EU executive was closely monitoring the increase of asylum seekers, website EurActiv reported. Visa liberalization is one of the greatest achievements in the process of European integration for the Western Balkans countries, Cercone said. Cercone said Malmström was very concerned about the increase in the number of unfounded asylum applications to the EU from nationals of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Western Balkan countries.

It should be clear that if some of the countries in the Western Balkans do not meet their commitments and do not properly and quickly address the concerns of EU member countries regarding the increasing number of unfounded asylum applications, the achievements of visa liberalization might be put at risk, he said.

Meanwhile, political leaders of Bosnia met Monday to form a central government. The lack of government almost a year after general elections has been the most serious post-war crisis in the country, AFP reported. After several failed attempts to form a central government in the country divided along ethnic lines into two entities – the Serbs’ Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation – the heads of the six main political parties re-launched a dialogue earlier this month.

from http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=bosnia-may-lose-visa-free-status-eu-says-2011-09-26