Bosnia and Albania celebrated non-visa travelling to the EU

16 December 2010 | Happy celebrations in Albania and Bosnia marked the lifting of EU visas for their citizens – a situation, new for the youngest generation in the former Yugoslavian republic, and unknown to any Albanian living in his country so far.
Overridden with joy, some were organizing anything from public to private parties, while others just boarded the buses to European capitals.

"The last wall has come down, the wall of the Schengen area," sayd the Albanian president Berisha, quoted by the international press. "No longer forbidden.”

His country and Bosnia were the last, whose citizens were restricted in their travelling to the EU, except Kosovo and Turkey. Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia obtained a liberalized access to the European Union country a year ago.

The EU decision for Albania and Bosnia was taken last month unanimously, but not unconditionally – it came with an explicit warning that it will be reversed, if it leads to an influx of people, searching illegally for work, or unreasonably – for asylum.