Cecilia Malmström pleased with Bosnia and Herzegovina

After several years of visa cooperation, the European Commission proposed on 27 May this year an agreement on visa liberalisation with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. It is a conditional agreement, listing the requirements the countries still have to meet in order to reach full visa liberalisation with the EU. In a few weeks, an expert mission from the EU Commission goes to Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to assess whether the country has managed to implement all the changes that the Commission has requested. During today's meeting in Brussels, Cecilia Malmström got a report on the state of play so far.

"Ahmetovic gave an overview of how far Bosnia and Herzegovina has come up to now, in particular in the area of fight against organised crime where they have done a lot to improve coordination of information sharing between the police and other authorities. They have come a long way; I am pleased with the progress so far", said Cecilia Malmström after the meeting.

Malmström underlined that there is still work to be done in order for the visa liberalisation agreement to come into force.

"They seem to have clear goals and visions of the remaining reformation process. I hope that we will soon be able to see further progress so that we can reach our common goal and remove visa obligations between the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina before the end of the year", said Cecilia Malmström.

Read more on the visa liberalisation agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania.