Higher Schengen visa fees should be rejected in favour of no-fees ...

PRESS RELEASE
A network of policy centres in
Central and Eastern Europe and
Central Asia
Executive Director Jeff Lovitt
Tesnov 3 110 00 Praha 1 Czech Republic
Tel: +420 2223 14676/ 77/ 78
Mobile: +420 7315 17224
Tel/Fax: +420 2223 13644
Email: jefflovitt@pasos.org
www.pasos.org
Higher Schengen visa fees should be rejected in
favour of no-fees visa travel, says PASOS
Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS) calls upon European Council
to reject the plan to raise Schengen visa fees to 60 euros, and instead promote
greater trade and co-operation with southern and eastern neighbours
Prague/Warsaw, 25 April 2006 – European Union Justice and Home Affairs ministers,
meeting in Luxembourg on 27 April, should support the European Commission’s plans to
ease visa requirements in the Western Balkans, and roundly reject the proposal to raise
Schengen visa fees to 60 euros from the current 35 euros (or less in the case of new EU
member-states that are due to join the system in the autumn of 2007), said the Policy
Association for an Open Society (PASOS) in a statement today. PASOS is a network of 26
policy centres in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
“Higher Schengen visa fees have no basis in economic policy or border security, and should
be rejected,” said PASOS. “Higher visa fees, as proposed to the European Council by the
French government, would make no difference to human trafficking and cross-border criminal
activity,” argued PASOS, “but would hit hard ordinary citizens on average incomes in the
Western Balkans, and in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, countries that the European
Neighbourhood Policy explicitly seeks to engage in closer co-operation.”
The costs of visa-processing should be shared more evenly among the Schengen countries,
said PASOS, so that the burden is not borne predominantly by those with most embassies.
On visa policies and border policing, the older EU member-states “should look to the
experience of new members, such as Poland and Hungary, which have issued hundreds of
thousands of visas to Ukrainians, while at the same time curbing illegal transit migration,”
said PASOS. “The impact of higher visa fees on cross-border trade and family ties would be
devastating, not least to ordinary citizens: sixty euros amounts to one-third of the average
monthly net wages in Serbia and Montenegro, or half the average monthly wage in Ukraine.”
Chair: Vita Terauda Executive Director: Jeff Lovitt
Tesnov 3 110 00 Praha 1 Czech Republic
Tel: +420 2223 14676/ 77/ 78 Tel/Fax: +420 2223 13644 Email: info@pasos.org Website: www.pasos.org
Registered Office: Prokopova 197/9, 130 00 Praha 3, Czech Republic ICO: 26675404
PASOS promotes and protects open society values, including democracy, rule of law, good governance,
respect for and protection of human rights, economic and social development by supporting policy centres.
PASOS is a not-for-profit association registered in the Czech Republic.

Higher Schengen visa fees should be rejected in favour of no-fees visa travel, says PASOS
- PASOS press release, 25 April 2006, page 2 of 2
PASOS called on the European Council “to reject the proposed rise in Schengen visa fees,
and to adopt policies encouraging and promoting greater cultural and economic exchange,
including tourism, between EU countries and their neighbours – and to follow the example of
new EU member-states by ending visa fees for the Western Balkans, and for Ukraine,
Georgia and Moldova”.
This statement is supported by the following policy centres (an updated list of supporting
policy centres can be found at www.pasos.org):
Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Tbilisi, Georgia
Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS, Riga, Latvia
Institute for Public Policy (IPP), Chisinau, Moldova
Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw, Poland
Jefferson Institute, Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
For contact details of PASOS members, see www.pasos.org/members
Chair: Vita Terauda Executive Director: Jeff Lovitt
Tesnov 3 110 00 Praha 1 Czech Republic
Tel: +420 2223 14676/ 77/ 78 Tel/Fax: +420 2223 13644 Email: info@pasos.org Website: www.pasos.org
Registered Office: Prokopova 197/9, 130 00 Praha 3, Czech Republic ICO: 26675404
PASOS promotes and protects open society values, including democracy, rule of law, good governance,
respect for and protection of human rights, economic and social development by supporting policy centres.
PASOS is a not-for-profit association registered in the Czech Republic.