The European Union (EU) is considering restricting visa-free travel for Western Balkans, Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova citizens, EUobserver writes.
According to an internal report dated September 27, the reason for this is the increase in the illegal presence of the citizens of mentioned countries and the unfounded demands for asylum. Such countries include Germany, France, and Italy. As noted in the document, these countries have recently become increasingly frustrated with the growing trend of abusing visa-free travel.
Citizens of Montenegro, Serbia, and Northern Macedonia can travel to EU countries without a visa from 2009, citizens of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina - from 2010, citizens of Moldova - from 2014, and citizens of Georgia and Ukraine - from 2017. Citizens of these countries can stay in the EU for 90 days without a visa.
According to the "suspension mechanism," if more than 50% of these countries have statistics on illegal stay and asylum applications in the EU, this can lead to the abolition of visa-free travel and the bringing back to a visa regime.
