The right to travel without visas :-)

When I started this blog earlier this summer, I decided to use it only as a space for sharing my professional reflections on policy-making processes and the role of think tanks within. This day, December 19, 2009 poses a serious challenge to this decision of mine. I will try to balance my personal and professional reflections on the great decision to put Macedonian, Serbian and Montenegrin citizens on the White List of Schengen countries (All EU except the UK and Ireland).

While for many December 19 is just an ordinary day, if not tiring, in the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy, for me – a Macedonian living in the European Union- it is a day for second coming out of age. Second, since at age of 36, I feel like being given a second suffrage. This time, it is not the right to vote, it is the right to move freely, to travel to ‘Europe’. Gone are the long lines in front of the EU embassies, suffering all sorts of humiliations. After 18 years, 10 passports (including my old Yugoslav passport), some 120 visas and countless amount spent*, I can travel to almost the entire EU without a visa. It feels almost like a first vote, even better since the choice is greater (sic! to local Macedonian politicians). I vividly remember my first international travel in 1991, exactly 18 years ago. Then, at the down of the Yugoslavia’s demise, I visited London, proud of my Yugoslav passport, then the entry ticket to both the West and the East.

This is a great achievement which I hope will not end up here. I look forward to Albanians and Bosnians being able to share the same excitement that has now overwhelmed me (already in 2010). This is also a time to thank to all civil servants and some politicians, but also extend the gratitude to many think tanks and NGOs that have pushed this agenda. I want to personally thank to think tanks such as European Movement Albania, PoPuLaRi in Bosnia, Group 484 in Serbia, Center for Research and Policy Making in Macedonia, European Stability Initiative and Policy Association for Open Society (PASOS) and European Institute in Bulgaria – for their efforts. Knowing that the list is much longer, please excuse me for not mentioning many more NGOs and think tanks that have contributed to this effort. And not to forget Kosovo (read the last report of FORUM 2015)!

At the end of this note I would to ask for volunteers to explain to my 87-year grandma what kind of Wall fell earlier today. She asked my mum after watching all the news coverage and celebrations and was somewhat disappointed that they did not show a wall on the news . Obviously, the old women likened this event with the coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Warning to the volunteers: it should be easy and understandable, almost as a short comment in a popular daily newspaper .

*Only the last UK visa amounted to 267 Euros. Unfortunately UK visas will stay around for a while.