Can you use your mobile phone in the Western Balkans at the same speed as in your home country in the EU? The EU wants to expand roaming regulations. This would especially benefit travelers.
The European Commission foresees that EU travelers should also benefit from more favorable mobile roaming rates in the Western Balkans.
To this end, the Commission proposes to open negotiations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, as announced by the Brussels-based authority. The plan now requires the approval of EU member states.
Voluntary agreements between mobile network operators already allow for partially reduced tariffs in the Western Balkans.
If the planned negotiations lead to an agreement, travelers could use, for example, their smartphones as they would in their home country.
They would then pay the same amount for services abroad as they pay in their own country.
Since mid-2017, people living in the EU have not had to pay additional roaming charges for mobile phones when travelling to other EU countries.
The European Union is in principle predisposed to admit all six countries into the EU.
However, all of these countries are still expected to concretely demonstrate the implementation of reforms.
According to the latest analysis by the European Commission, Montenegro is ahead in the EU accession process - negotiations with Podgorica could be completed by the end of the year. /DW/
