European Parliament OKs EU-Armenia visa facilitation, readmission deals

PanARMENIAN.Net - European Parliament approved the EU-Armenia agreements for visa regime facilitation and readmission. New rules stipulate for acceleration of visa provision terms and decrease of visa fees, as well as shortening the list of documents necessary.

Visa regime facilitation will give a new impetus to cooperation, also boosting the citizens’ mobility, the document says, according to Rosbalt.

The agreements for visa regime facilitation and readmission are envisaged by the EU’s Eastern Partnership program aimed to establish closer partnership with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus.

On December 17, 2012, the European Union signed a deal with Armenia which will make it easier and cheaper for Armenians to travel to the bloc, its member states announced.

The deal, which required the approval of the European Parliament, will make it more straightforward for Armenians to acquire short-term visas to the EU.

The agreement also depends upon both parties signing a so-called readmission agreement, which regulates the return of citizens residing on each other’s territory without the necessary visas or permits.

The agreement was signed in Brussels by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis.

Earlier, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule expressed hope that the summit in Vilnius will ensure the irreversibility of the processes of political association and economic integration of the Eastern Partnership countries with the EU.

He further described the summit agenda, including signing of the Association and free trade agreements with Ukraine, initialing of similar deals with Moldova and Georgia, inking visa regime facilitation and readmission deals with Armenia and Azerbaijan.