EU to give Albania, Bosnia visa exemption

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union will likely extend visa-free travel rights to Bosnians and Albanians next week despite deep reservations among EU states, diplomats said Friday.

EU interior ministers are expected to give the green light on Monday to allow citizens of Albania and Bosnia Hercegovina to travel to 25 European nations without a visa, several diplomats told AFP on condition of anonymity.

But EU states are angry with the European Commission, the EU's executive, for "skipping stages" in the complicated process and not controlling the readiness of the nations seeking the exemption, one European diplomat said.

Security issues were "swept under the carpet" by the Commission, a European negotiator said.

Under a compromise deal, a monitoring mechanism will be implemented to ensure that the two countries, which would like to join the 27-nation bloc, respect certain benchmarks, diplomats said.

The European parliament approved the visa exemption for the two Balkan nations on October 7.

The exemption applies to the 25 countries that are members of the Schengen visa-free travel zone.