The Spain-promoted exemption of visas for Peruvian and Colombian citizens wishing to enter the Schengen area has been politically decided, informed the head of the Spanish Government Mariano Rajoy, who expects this will be definitive in June.
“This measure, politically decided, has some technical issues pending and will become a reality in a few months,” assured Rajoy in a press conference with Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos, who is currently paying a visit to Spain.
“The most important thing here is that the political decision has already been adopted,” he underlined.
“Personally, I think it would be reckless to suggest a date, because the solution of these technical problems does not depend on me,” informed the Spanish leader, “but I am going to try to make this happen at the meeting of the European Union and the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean States (CELAC) in June.
In August 2013, the Spanish government announced it would formally request fellow countries in the passport-free Schengen zone to lift short-stay visa requirements for Peru and Colombia, after the EU-Colombia and EU-Peru trade agreements entered into force.
The Schengen area is made up of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Monaco, Germany, Greece and Hungary.
Likewise, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland are part of this bloc.
(END) AFP/AND/RMB/MVB
Published: 3/4/2015