EU Council of Ministers will take a decision on visa liberalization by end-March

14.03.2014 05:43
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The Council of Ministers of the EU will take a decision on the abolition of the visa requirements for Moldovans by the end of March. Immediately after the decision is taken, it will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and may take effect at the end of May, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Iulian Groza said in the program “Fabrika” on Publika TV chanenl, IPN reports.

The deputy minister said that when the visa regime is liberalized, the Moldovans holding biometric passports will have to obey a number of rules. First of all, they must respect the period of stay of 90 days within six months or will face penalties raging from warnings to fines of up to €3,000 or bans on entering the Schengen during a period of up to five years.

Iulian Groza also said that the people will have to be ready to answer the questions of border police officers and say where they go, to what address, and what they intend to do. They will also have to present a round-trip ticket and to prove that they have money for the stay, at least €50 a day. “These things must be known,” said the deputy minister. Currently, there are slightly over 800,000 people who hold biometric passports.

According to Groza, a study shows that illegal migration is rather improbable. The number of potential migrants will not be larger than 100,000.

Simultaneously, the government is initiating projects to encourage the people to remain in Moldova. One of the projects is to attract European funds for public works at local level, such as to repair kindergartens and local roads. These funds will be intended for employing people from the given community.

Foreign Policy Association program director Victoria Bucataru said the EU decided to abolish the visa regime for a number of reasons, including the fact that the visa liberalization action plan was implemented and the crisis in Ukraine. It is very important for the EU to show that there are Eastern Partnership member states that managed to do reforms and want to form part of the European family.