Border fence in Albania

Films and exhibitions

• White Wedding, an exhibition by Kosovo artists on the problem of visa liberalization in Kosovo, Pristina – Brussels, February 2010
• Balkan Cage, a short film by Boris Kaeski (1'46"), November 2008
• Return to Europe: The European visa regime (Bosnia), 2008
• Return to Europe: Costs of isolation in Kosovo, 2008
• Return to Europe: No Balkan Ghetto – It depends on us (Trailer), 2007
• Should I stay or should I go, a short film by Peter Gerlach (1'30"), supported by OBESSU (Organising Bureau of the European School Student Unions), 2005

Reports

An increasing number of NGOs in the Western Balkans are monitoring the efforts of their governments to implement the visa roadmaps and qualify for visa-free travel. They have acquired expertise and play a crucial role in promoting reforms in their countries.

• European Movement in Albania, Monitoring the Visa Liberalisation Process with Albania: What to expect when you are expecting?, May 2010
• European Movement in Albania, Visa Liberalisation. Implications of a proposal, September 2009
• Reactor, Taking Down the Schengen Wall, Skopje, 24 April 2009
• Analytica, Ending 'Ghettoisation' of the Western Balkans. Visa Liberalisation Prospects, Skopje, 20 March 2009
• Group 484, Towards White Schengen List, Serbia Progress Report on Visa Liberalisation Process, Belgrade, December 2008
• Center for Research and Policymaking (CRPM), Macedonian Progress with regard to the Benchmarks set in the Roadmap on Visa Liberalisation, October 2008
• Agenda Institute, Towards visa free regime, Tirana, December 2007
• Analytica, Grassroots Europeanisation in the Western Balkans is just starting: Visa facilitation, Brief, Skopje, May 2007.
• Institute of International Politics and Economics, European Movement in Serbia, Group 484, Visa Policy and the Western Balkans, Belgrade 2006
• Group 484, Towards the white Schengen list, Belgrade, December 2005
• International Crisis Group, EU Visas and the Western Balkans, 29 November 2005

Some are also taking a hard look at the visa facilitation agreements.

• European Movement in Albania (EMA), One year from the Visa Facilitation Agreement. What has really changed?, January 2009
• European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) project: Does it really matter? Visa facilitation in the Western Balkans - Monitoring of the new agreements, 2008

There are also regional projects, an area where PASOS has been a leader:

• Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS)/European Institute Bulgaria, Could EU visa-free travel become a key incentive for Western Balkans countries to establish better democratic institutions and the rule of law?, Policy Brief, 5 March 2009. (PASOS plans to publish the accompanying country reports on its website within weeks.

Examining the levels of crime in the Balkans in 2008, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime came to the surprising conclusion that most of the region is safer than Western Europe with regard to conventional crime, and that organised crime activity is diminishing.

• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Crime and its Impact on the Balkans, May 2008

The Balkan Monitor of Gallup, one of the world's leading polling institutes, analysed attitudes towards migration in the Western Balkans in 2006 and 2008. The data shows that, unlike widely believed, relatively few people have concrete plans to leave their home countries.

• Gallup Balkan Monitor, Focus On: The impact of migration, June 2009 (report)
• Gallup Balkan Report, The Western Balkans: the impact of migration, 26 June 2009 (presentation)

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, president of the Romania's largest think-tank SAR (Romanian Academic Society), examined in 2005 how many people from the Balkans would be willing to emigrate to the EU:

• Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Seeking the Virtuous Circle: Migration and Development in South Eastern Europe. In: Development and Transition, A newsletter published by UNDP and the London School of Economics, Issue 2, November 2005, pp. 7-11. The article is based on a study done for UNDP

The Secretariat of the EU Council publishes annually detailed statistical information about Schengen visa applications, approvals and denials.

• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
  • Addendum 1: Statistics from Romania for 2006
  • Addendum 2: Statistics from Austria for 2006
• 2005

A number of foundations and NGOs are trying to work against the isolation of the citizens of the Western Balkans, in particular the young generation. In collaboration with the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the Robert Bosch Stiftung annually organises a one-month trip in Europe for several hundred students from the Western Balkans, helping them to get a visa and the mandatory health insurance, and providing them with train tickets and some pocket money.

• Robert Bosch Stiftung, Travel to Europe

Please let us know if you think that other core texts and essential reading should be added here, by contacting Alexandra Stiglmayer, ESI Senior Analyst in Brussels.