Proposal amending Regulation (EC) No 1931/2006 as regards the inclusion of the Kaliningrad area and certain Polish administrative districts in the eligible border area July 2011
Proposal amending Regulation (EC) No 1931/2006 as regards the inclusion of the Kaliningrad area and certain Polish administrative districts in the eligible border area
July 2011
“Even though the EU-Russian Federation agreement on visa facilitation in force since 2007 already is a significant step forward to enhance opportunities for mobility, the local border traffic regime offers additional facilitations specifically for regular, even daily, needs for travel within the local area. […]
In order also to prevent an artificial division of the Kaliningrad oblast, whereby some inhabitants would enjoy facilitations for local border traffic while the majority (including the inhabitants of the city of Kaliningrad) would not, the entire Kaliningrad area should be eligible as a border area in a bilateral agreement between a Member State and the Russian Federation. In this context, and for the Regulation to have real effect in that region, a specific border area on the Polish side should be included in the eligible border area as well, in order to facilitate and enhance economic and cultural interchange between the Kaliningrad oblast on the one hand and major centres in the North of Poland on the other. “
