I’ve been writing about the visa-free travel for some time now, but today it’s official – since December 19th there will be no more visa requirement for Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian citizens if they want to travel to the Schengen territory. There are several popular myths circling around in the comments regarding this news, as well as some skepticism so I would like to use this opportunity to try and discuss them.
photo by gingerpig2000
Claim: From December 19th it will be possible for citizens of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro to travel to all EU countries.
Comment: Schengen countries are not the same as EU countries. Some EU countries are not members of Schengen, for example Romania, Bulgaria and the UK. Some Schengen countries are not members of the EU, for example Norway.
Claim: The visa exemption will change nothing significant when it comes to number of people traveling from Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia – only those who had money to travel so far will be able to travel from now on.
Comment: Traveling to the Schengen countries does not have to be expensive, thanks to low budget travel options, such as hostels and low-cost airlines. Also, for some people it was impossible to get a visa simply because they did not have necessary documents to get it – bank account, proof of employment etc.
Claim: The visa liberalization is primarily the result of Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian governments, and not a gift from the European Union.
Comment: Even though both the governments in question and the EU commissioners make this claim, I am not convinced this is the case. In reality, we did nothing but apply the technical standards for visa liberalization. We could have done that years ago, because it’s easy – and if it was that easy, why didn’t we do it years ago?
Claim: This will not help the economy at all.
Comment: While it may logical to assume that this will allow for the money to flow one way – from the country, and not into the country, in tourism this works both ways – more people traveling from the country, means more traveling routes which leads to more people traveling into the country.
I would say these myths are now debunked, but there are probably some that I have forgotten. What do you think?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Bravo! There are more points to be discussed and debunked but, thus far, I agree with you. I really don’t see how visa liberalization will make much difference at all. Maybe for a few individuals but on a large scale or in any significant way? Nah… Nice article and killer timing, my man! Keep it up.
Serbia is much more isolated than it realises. Having people travelling a bit more, especially kids, may help to bring some ideas up to date. Hell, we may even start on the road to social equality and other such radical ideas from the early 60s.
Hihi, I must say these “myths” exist mainly because the citizens are not getting the proper, extensive and on time information, explanations and definitions.
Easier and less depressed life? Yes!
I agree with Toby. Is there anything more significant than free float of ideas that also come from material presence?
Asking the question about whether this is going to change something or or not has the same value as asking whether any of the given civil freedoms are bringing any good to us. The question itself is not valid, I would say. The freedom to easily travel to the neighboring countries was taken from us because of the bad politics. And now, that freedom is just being returned after all these years of living in the cage. Nothing to celebrate.
@NIki – but my point is that the visa liberalization will indeed change a lot of things. Maybe I didn’t emphasize that strongly enough, but the “claims” in the text are actually – myths. I think this will affect a great percentage of people, both economically and socially.
It’s hard to see how visa liberalization *won’t* have significant impacts on the countries involved. The balance of positive and negative impacts is obviously up for debate (although i struggle to see any downsides) but easier visas = lower barrier to travelling = increased freedom of movement = more opportunities for people. And lord knows the people of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia – particularly younger people – need more opportunities.
How about “low-cost air travel does not mean that young people are helping destroy the future of their planet”?
Are young people responsible for a disproportionate amount of low-cost air travel? Not in my experience – it cuts across age groups, since it breaks down by class rather than age. Since there is an excellent network of rail and coach services across Europe, that is how a lot of young people travel – at least in my experience. Low-cost air changes that but doesn’t destroy it, and the choice of transport is up to the individual.
Good for all the young people using less destructive means of transport, sad that they’re the ones fated to bear the burden dumped on them by all the jolly fliers – old or young, Serbian, UK or of whatever origin.
I’d be more worried about the amount of meat they consume, personally. Particularly in the Balkans…
Congratulations Serbs!, i’ve just finished a painful process to get a serbian tourist visa due to not having a local serbian embassy in my country, so i totally understand what you went through. What’s more ironic is that my country IS on the schengen visa free travel. Anyway, great site, it’s been very helpful so far for planning my trip this december to belgrade.
Viktor, good point on all counts. For one, I’m already planning to utilize new opportunity.
I sometimes spend weekends in Palic (Subotica), so…
On Saturday, December 19, I’ll go to Palic, have some fish soup, stuff like that, sleep over there and on Sunday morning, I’ll take a short tour to Szeged, to get some groceries and check if the prices are really lower than Maxi… Back to Belgrade that evening…
I’ll let ya’ll know how the prices compare
Sounds like a good plan – I hope you will publish the results on your blog
Actually, the plan has a major flaw: stores are probably closed on Sunday, are they? Anyone perchance has first hand information on this?
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