Time for Visa-Free for Moldova
Time for Visa-Free for Moldova

Author(s): Leonid Litră
Subject(s): International relations/trade
Published by: IDIS VIITORUL Institutul pentru Dezoltare şi Initiative Sociale
Keywords: visa-freedom; Shengen;
Summary/Abstract: Almost 3 years ago, on 24 January 2011 the Republic of Moldova received the Visa Liberalization Action Plan from the European Union. A year earlier at the launch of the Visa Dialogue, no one believed that the Republic of Moldova’s citizens would be able to travel without visas to the EU. As then, today very few believe as well.In 2011 even among well-informed bureaucrats there were opinions ranging from one extreme to the other. While in 2010 nobody thought it was possible, in 2011 the vast majority thought that Moldova would get a liberalized visa regime by the end of 2012. The assumption of rapid visa liberalization was due to the experience of Balkan states obtaining a visa-free regime in just one and a half years (Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro) or two and a half years (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania).

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