Brussels Knows Dutch Lawmakers Voted To Bring Back Visas For Albanians - Spokesperson

He European Commission knows about the Dutch parliament voting to suspend visa-free travel with Albania, but has received no request for suspension yet, the coordinating spokesperson for the commission said Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2019) The European Commission knows about the Dutch parliament voting to suspend visa-free travel with Albania, but has received no request for suspension yet, the coordinating spokesperson for the commission said Wednesday.

By 92 votes out of 150, the Dutch parliament decided on Tuesday to ask the commission to suspend visa-free travel with Albania.

"The commission is aware of the motion that passed in the Dutch parliament yesterday, but there is a specific procedure that's in place for the visa suspension mechanism, and to date, we have received no notifications from any member states requesting the visa suspension mechanism be triggered for any of the countries benefiting from visa-free travel," Natasha Bertaud said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok had reportedly told lawmakers before the vote that he was not planning to persuade Brussels to bring back visas for Albanians.

According to media reports, the move to reintroduce visas was motivated by activity of Albania-linked criminal groups.

Albanians have been able to travel to the European Union without visas since December 2010.

Albania applied for EU membership in 2009 and received candidate status in 2014.