Brussels, 19/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Armenians will be able to enter the EU more easily if the European Parliament gives the go-ahead this October to the agreement reached on Wednesday in the Parliamentary committee.
The civil liberties committee has approved the visa facilitation and readmission agreements concluded between the EU and Armenia. Under these two agreements, procedures for granting short stay visas will be speeded up and a decision could be made within a ten-day period (two/three days for urgent cases), which would make them less expensive, said the committee, at around €35 per visa.
Certain categories of the Armenian population (students, businessmen, journalists and close family) will also be spared a lot of red tape. European citizens have not needed visa to travel to Armenia since January 2013. The readmission agreement goes hand in hand with the visa facilitation agreements and will make it incumbent on Armenia to take back its nationals if they are illegally living in the EU and to help prevent and control immigration flows. (SP/trans.fl)