Citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia will be able to travel throughout the Schengen zone without visas from 19 December, EU interior ministers decided today.
The visa waiver, which frees the way for travel across the vast majority of the EU, will apply to holders of biometric passports.
Tobias Billström, Sweden's migration minister who was chairing the meeting in Brussels, said that the decision would allow people from the countries to visit their relatives in the Schengen zone for Christmas.
Ministers decided not to lift the visa requirement for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina because those two countries had not made enough progress in the criteria for visa-free travel. The criteria include ensuring effective border control and passport security, and measures to fight corruption and organised crime.
There are 25 European countries in the Schengen zone, most of them members of the EU. The largest EU country that is not a member of the Schengen zone is the UK.
