Serbia, Albania, N. Macedonia to allow passport-free travel for their citizens

Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia have agreed to allow passport-free travel for their citizens by 2021 and a speedier cross-border flow of goods to boost regional economic development.

“We aim to create conditions for people to use only national identification cards for crossing the borders (of the three countries) by end-2021,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told a news conference with the prime ministers of Albania and North Macedonia.

The move is not a specific requirement of the EU but comes at a time when there is growing resistance within the bloc to further enlargement, Reuters said.

Six Western Balkan countries – Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia – hope to join the European Union. Their accession has been slowed down by Brexit and other factors. The mutual relations of these states are also burdened by the legacy of the wars of the 1990s in the Balkans.