The EU member countries in concert with representatives of the European Commission will open on February 26 talks regarding the opening of the joint European visa issuance centre in Chisinau, following the proposal from Romania’s Minister of Administration and Interior Vasile Blaga, announces the press unit of the ministry, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. These talks, held at expert level, are expected to be launched as part of the meeting of the Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum (SCIFA), following the go-ahead from EC and EU member countries given at the last week’s meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council, concerning Romania’s initiative to engage in the opening of the visa issuance centre in Chisinau. According to the same source, the talks are expected to establish the way in which the future centre will be organised and to regulate some technical and administrative issues. Within the meeting, Romania’s representatives will advocate the opening of the centre in the shortest time possible. “I hope that the opening of the centre will be soon possible, so that Moldovan citizens will enjoy access to EU visas within a swift and functional system”, says Vasile Blaga. On the JHA meeting’s occasion, Vice-President of the EC Franco Frattini, greeted Romania’s willingness to engage in the opening of the joint visa issuance centre. Frattini believes that easier visa issuance procedures for Moldovans might help reduce the pressure on the Romanian authorities, which do not cope with the large number of citizenship requests from Moldovan citizens. On the other hand, Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration was surprised to find out that Blaga suggested the JHA Council that Romania would take over the Joint Visa Centre. “It seems strange that the Romanian authorities didn’t choose to ask the Moldovan authorities’ opinion, since it would be definitively a negative one, given that starting August, 2006, Moldova is efficiently cooperating with Hungary in order to have a visa issuance centre opened in Chisinau,” says a press release from Moldova’s MFA.