The Conference in Brussels of the Visa Facilitation Agreement

The visa regime in the West Balkan countries and the implementation of the Visa Facilitation Agreement were the topics of discussion at the Conference organized by ECAS in Brussels on December 10, 2008. Our presence as a civil society organization from Bosnia and Herzegovina and an ECAS partner organization demonstrated our dedication to future action in this area and our objective that citizens' voice on this issue is heard. Namely, on the one hand, the Conference demonstrated that the representatives of the European Union were satisfied with the implementation of the Agreement, but, on the other, it pointed out some evident difficulties that the residents of the West Balkan countries are still facing when they apply for a visa. We remind you that this year a comprehensive survey was conducted on the application of the Visa Facilitation Agreement in the area of the West Balkan countries, and a telephone hotline VisaHotline was established for citizens' questions regarding the implementation of the visa regime. The Conference in Brussels was the occasion for the public presentation of the findings, which resulted in a dialogue on the possibilities of improving the implementation of the Visa Facilitation Agreement. More information on the research findings can be found on www.ecas.org .