June 20 (SeeNews) - Serbian trade and telecommunications ministry has said it plans to request the European Commission (EC) to remove the mobile roaming charges for the EU candidates Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
The telecommunications ministers of Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro have agreed to send a joint letter to the EC asking it to remove the roaming fees for mobile calls for the four countries, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
"We are aware that the elimination of roaming fees will not be simple, fast or easy since within the European Union itself ten years were needed to teach an agreement to abolish the roaming charges. We launched a similar initiative two years ago, but it was not accepted at that time," Serbian trade and telecommunications minister Rasim Ljajic said in the statement.
As official candidates for EU membership, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro should benefit from the same advantages as the EU countries, or Norway, Liechtenstein or Iceland, which are not part of the bloc, Ljajic added.
In December 2016, the representatives of EU member states voted to abolish all roaming charges by June 2017. The regulation eventually led to the elimination of all roaming charges for temporary roaming within the European Economic Area (EEA) as of June 15, 2017.