... if we don’t fuck something up in the meantime, of course.
The decision of the European Commision to allow Serbs to travel as tourists in European/Schengen area without visas seems more and more likely after yesterdays meeting, where, beside Serbian citizens, also Macedonians and Montenegrins are confirmed to be on the good track.
Even Netherlands also said that, as a sign of good will, it will support this decision, but continue to veto the Stabilization and Association Process for Serbia, until Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic are arrested.
These are the things we still have to do in the meantime:
- To install biometric document readers on every border crossing
- To fight corruption among customs officers
- To increase the number of custom officers
- To update the database of our citizens
- To cooperate with neighboring countries in fighting the organized crime
- Main condition: strict control and the obligatory centralization of issuing new passports to Kosovo residents
The deadline to do all this should be until October, and the final decision is expected somewhere in November.
The consequences of visa removal after 17 years of virtual isolation – well, there are many, mostly positive. Aside from the most obvious ones, such as more free time for embassy employees, I would say that the biggest change should be of psychological nature – just knowing that you could travel if you wanted to, even if you can’t really afford it, is one less thing to stress about.
Among the comments on other news sites, some people expressed hope that this will force the prices of some food and clothes products to drop, as those traveling around in the neighboring countries will be able to buy those for less money than in Serbia.
I do not expect some mass rush for the borders, because not everybody has a passport, and among those who have it, not all can afford to travel.
Low cost airlines could also find a market in Serbia now that the potential passengers don’t have to include waiting for visas in their itinerary planning.
That was just a couple of good things off the top of my mind, are there any other benefits of visa abolition for Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian citizens you can think of?
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Other benefits? How about a possible decrease in conspiracy theories / persecution complex?
If you’ve never been allowed to leave Serbia, and the only people you know are Serbs who have never been allowed to leave Serbia, it’s no wonder you’ll think that the world is against you (and that you should vote SRS). If you have no personal experience with people from other countries, it’s far too easy to believe that they are all devils who are out to get you. It’s only human.
If it becomes possible for you to go there and meet people from other countries, you realize that (1) they’re not what you expected, (2) they’re not all the same, and (3) they have a lot of the same problems you do.
IMHO this has the potential to be the best thing to happen to Serbia since Djindjic was elected.
I really hope it happens and we get some Low Costs, I’m all for weekend city trips around Europe, also have tons of frequent flyer miles that need using but require purchase 2 weeks before flight, not enough time to go through visa BS.
how about the fact that i’ll get to see my boyfriend more? okay, that’s not a benefit for the whole population… but you know, it could be eventually…
and daniel, that ‘going there and meeting people’ and ‘learning that they’re not all that bad’ thing goes both ways. i can’t count how many times i’ve been talking about serbia, and people start asking me when i’m going to go to croatia. granted, could be just because the inevitably heard croatia’s more beautiful, but i feel like there’s something behind it. that something being media in the west, making a good guy-bad guy scenario out of the balkans. it’ll be good for us (meaning euro-america) to meet more serbians too; perhaps come to the same conclusions you suggested.
Good news! Daniel’s comment is spot on!
Non-travelling Serbians need low cost carriers a.s.a.p.
Will the monopoly imposed by JAT and “Nikola Tesla” Belgrade Airport be finally removed? Do the democrats still have the interest to keep the status quo and really slowly remove obstacles in Serbia, while touting every removed obstacle as “ground-breaking” (or whatever)?
Cheers!
Shonzilla
Good comments, people. Keep ‘em coming.
@Ieishah: YES. I know the US is not a Schengen country, but I would LOVE to have some of my Serb friends come visit me here.
That said, I think we in the US have forgotten the whole “bad guys on CNN” thing much more than Western Europe has. Maybe it’s because we’re further away, or our government and media create more bad guys for us, or we just have a shorter attention span.
In any case, it’s very hard to look at any conflict and not try to assign “good guy” / “bad guy” labels … but that’s a topic for another day.
Put out the flags, everyone gets to have cheap weekend breaks. Soon Serbians will be able to join the rest of the EU lemmings determined to enjoy their right to flight whatever the cost in terms of global warming and catastrophic climate change.
@Daniel i’m american, but don’t live in the u.s. most of the people i’m talking about are here in western europe. that said, i think you’re totally right about our gov’t creating bad guys. give me a date and time for the discussion and that topic, bro, and i’ll be there.
@owen, honey, you sound like you could use cheap weekend break, yourself…
Thanks for the kind thought, Ieishah! I was a bit grumpy, but then I’d just been reading about people who’d been on the receiving end of Cyclone Aila.