EU to Step Up Efforts to Find Solution to Western Balkan Drivers’ Stay Duration Problem

EU flags (PHOTO: EUROPEAN UNION/Zucchi Enzo)

The European Union and its member states will increase efforts to find a solution to the problems faced by the members of certain profession categories from the Western Balkans related to the duration of their stays in the EU, including professional drivers, Luigi Soreca, head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, announced on Feb. 2.

In a post on the X social media platform, Soreca said the EU would work together with partner countries, including Bosnia, to find that solution. Last week, the European Commission proposed a new visa strategy -- extended stays -- for certain categories of third country citizens.

"New legislation with a specific set of extended short-stay rules at EU level is also being explored," Soreca said in the post, made after meeting in Sarajevo with Bosnian Minister of Transport and Communications Edin Forto, who was slated to leave for Brussels for a meeting of EU and Western Balkan country representatives.

Soreca said that the EU encouraged the responsible authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to work together with EU members and countries in the region to maximize the existing flexible and pragmatic solutions, adding that "the EU is also ready to explore other measures related to transport or customs cooperation, as provided for in the Growth Plan" for the Western Balkans.

Freight transport companies and associations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia, who blocked border crossings with the EU for several days last week, halted the protest after the EU announced changes to the visa strategy that would allow them to spend more than the currently permitted 90 days in a six-month period in the EU.