The European Commission will propose lifting visa restrictions for Macedonia, Serbia and Montengro

This has been announced Friday by the EU Justice Commissioner, Jacques Barrot.

"A proposal will be made next Tuesday in Strasbourg to liberalize visas for nationals of the Western Balkans. Under this proposal, the new regime will come into force on January 1, 2010. Certainly the reluctance of the Netherlands on Serbia remains an important issue, but there will be strong advocates around the table, so I think we will win. We will not punish the Serbian youth due to poor conduct of (Slobodan) Milosevic", Barrot said in Brussels.

According to a report that the European Commission prepared, only Macedonia met all the conditions needed to enter the so-called "White Schengen" list.

However, Brussels officials confirmed that although lagging behind in the process, decision-makers are pushing for Serbia and Montenegro to be included. Those two countries will be given an autumn deadline to reach certain benchmarks.

Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania started the process to obtain visa-free travel to Europe early in 2008.

However, Albania and Bosnia have been ranked at the end of the list and therefore will not be included in the first round of visa liberalization. According to EC sources, they will have to wait until the end of 2010 at the earliest.

Once the proposal has been presented, it has to pass through the Council of Ministers and finally receive a green light from the European Parliament.

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