EurActiv | 21 September 2016

Bulgaria and Romania inch closer to visa-free travel with Canada

Canada and Bulgaria have come to an agreement on a roadmap towards visa liberalisation, while the Romanian government indicated that there is a good chance of the same being granted to them in the near future as well. EurActiv Romania reports.

According to Novinite.com, Bulgaria will draft a roadmap towards visa liberalisation that will allow Bulgarian citizens to travel bureaucracy-free to Canada, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev reached an agreement during private talks at the UN summit in New York.

Plevneliev said that the text will be drawn up “as soon as possible” and the two leaders insisted that the visa issue remains a priority in their bilateral relations.

Additionally, the affable Trudeau met with Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Cioloş, according to official sources quoted by Agerpres, which also said that the two prime ministers agreed that there are good chances that visa requirements will be lifted “in the near future”.

The Romanian government confirmed the nature of the meeting in a press release.

Discussions on the issue of visas have intensified of late, as both Bucharest and Sofia have brought the matter to the attention of the European Commission.

Former Agriculture Commissioner Cioloş visited Canada in June, where he raised the subject with Trudeau.

Ottawa confirmed that it will only lift visa requirements for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens when all the criteria it has set are met.

The two Eastern European countries remain the only EU nations on which Canada imposes visa requirements.