Tirana/Brussels -- While full visa liberalization between Western Balkans and the European Union remains the primary aim for the region as a whole, the Interior Ministers from the region have recognised that this is a medium to long-term objective.  This is the key conclusion of the Ministerial Meeting of the MARRI Regional Forum, which met in Tirana this week (5 April).  The Ministers expressed their readiness to enter into a dialogue with the EU in finding concrete measures for easing the current visa restrictions. 

Moreover, Ministers of the Interior of Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia adopted a Declaration calling for closer consular co-operation among countries of Western Balkans, as well as for the warning and mutual alerting system on suspected illegal transit flows to be developed.

Deputy Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Michael Mozur addressed the MARRI Regional Forum, saying it is an “excellent example of how the region is taking regional ownership seriously”.  However, he stressed that visa restrictions imposed by the regional states towards some new EU Members States hinders progress on the discussions of visa facilitation and that these obstacles should be removed. 

The ministers agreed that if South East Europe wants to move closer towards European integration and develop economically, efforts to promote labour mobility within the region must be stepped up.  The objective is to develop common grounds for bilateral/regional co-operation and agreements, reducing irregular labour migration flows with the understanding that it contributes to the development of smuggling and trafficking in migrant workers and particularly of children and women.

In the Declaration, the strong support of the MARRI Regional Forum for the Roadmap process on durable solutions to refugees and displaced persons was reaffirmed. Moreover, MARRI Regional Centre in Skopje is to be developed into the regional focal point for information on planned activities, initiatives and projects in the area of asylum, migration and displacement issues.

Following the creation of the MARRI Regional Forum last year, consisting of the Governments of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, responsibility of managing and co-ordinating asylum, migration and displacement matters in the Western Balkans has now been handed over to the region under the auspices of the South Eastern European Co-operation Process (SEECP).  The Stability Pact will continue to support the process politically, including through its networks in Brussels and with other key international organizations.

Additional information:           Full text of the Declaration    

(click on:    http://www.stabilitypact.org/upload/documents/FINALDECLARATION-MARRIRegionalForumTirana5April2005.pdf)

For more information, please contact Stability Pact’s Spokesperson
Mr. Dragan Barbutovski at the SP Secretariat in Brussels
(+32-2-4018725 or press@stabilitypact.org).

MARRI is an acronym for the Migration, Asylum and Refugee Return Initiative