On 12 June, the EU-Moldova Joint Committee held its sixth and seventh meetings on the visa readmission and facilitation agreement respectively in Brussels, praising the results Moldova achieved over the past year.
Moldova’s delegation was headed by the Foreign and European Integration Ministry’s Secretary General Mihai Capatina.
The participants in the meeting also discussed the negotiations on the completion of the implementation protocols to the readmission agreement with the EU member states, as well as with third countries.
During the meeting on the visa facilitation agreement (VFA), the sides tackled the implementation of VFA specific provisions, including aspects related to Croatia’s accession to the EU on 1 July, Moldova’s amendments and progresses in the visa policy sector, as well as other aspects related to the VFA implementation.
The officials noted that there was a decrease in visa refusal rate for Moldovans and the double increase in the number of multiple Schengen visas.
The participants focused on the entrance in force, on 1 July, of the amendments to the visa free agreement, discussing practical implementation aspects of the new amendments, which inclusively provide for new facilitations for multiple visa issuances, new categories of beneficiaries, as well as for the abolishment of the visa regime for biometric passport owners.