"The EU"s present visa regime with the countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia-Montenegro including Kosovo) is fostering resentment, inhibiting progress on trade, business, education and more open civil societies, and as a result contributing negatively to regional stability," reads the report.
The ICG admits that full liberalisation of the visa regime for those countries is still not possible until the Balkan states are much closer to EU membership, but it stresses that selective liberalisation is necessary to show governments and citizens that reforms pay off.
"The EU committed itself to a more liberal visa regime for the Western Balkan countries at the Thessaloniki summit in 2003, and it is not implementing that commitment, even though it has started negotiations on visa facilitation with Russia, Ukraine and China. This sends an unfortunate message about its priorities."
"The current system is breeding resentment by making the majority pay a high price for a criminal minority."
The ICG therefore suggests that the EU start talks with Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro on the liberalisation of the visa regime for academics (researchers, university professors and students), the business and trade community (including haulage workers such as truck drivers), civil society, media, and officials.
"The EU Member States should begin negotiations with the relevant countries on a selective Schengen visa liberalisation regime for certain segments of the population and on facilitating visa applications for all their citizens," reads the report.
The ICG also suggests that the Western Balkan countries conclude readmission agreements with individual EU member states taking responsibility for all third-country nationals who arrive in the EU from their territory and continue with efforts regionally, nationally and across entity/state/republic borders, to fight organised crime, drugs, illegal immigration, trafficking, money laundering and terrorism.