Moldovans will not be able to travel visa-free to EU this year, IDIS expert

It is almost sure that the Moldovans in 2012 will not be able to travel visa-free to the European Union, despite the extremely optimistic statements made by some officials and the progress made by Moldova, considers Leonid Litra, expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative (IDIS) “Viitorul”, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a study, Leonid Litra says that one of Moldova’s accomplishments in the process of obtaining a liberalized visa regime is the issuing of exclusively biometric passports. “The more accessible and spread these passports are, the easier it will be for the authorities to explain to the people what a liberalized visa regime with the EU means. In order to avoid the previous disappointments, the people should know that visas will be still needed for trips to the EU that will last for more than 90 days and they will not provide the right to work. The Transnistrians must be encouraged to legalize their civil status documents so as to obtain a biometric passport,” said Leonid Litra. The expert considers it will be hard for Moldova to cope with the financial challenges generated by the liberalized visa regime with the EU. “Besides the allocations from the state budget, €39 million is needed to implement the Action Plan on Visa Liberalization with the EU. Including the Ministry of Finance in the working group on visas would be a first step in this direction,” stated Leonid Litra. The study says that the authorities should cooperate more efficiently with Ukraine in the area of border management, especially on the Transnistrian segment. The process of demarcating the state border with Ukraine should be completed. Leonid Litra said that unlike the Western Balkan states, the decision to travel visa-free for Moldova will be taken by the EU’s decision-making bodies. “Thus, we should be supported also by the states that are concerned about the migration of labor force and the rising crime rate and combat the criticism of some of the EU member states as regards the granting of Romanian nationality to Moldovans,” said Leonid Litra. The study “Moldova on the path to visa liberalization with the EU: an inventory of successes and failures” was carried out within the Paving the Road towards Visa-Free Travel between the Eastern Partnership Countries and the EU Project that is implemented by PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), with financial support from the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Foundations.