Citizens of Montenegro will be able to travel to the European Union without visa after EU interior ministers on Monday agreed to lift visa requirements for Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia as of December 19. The three countries are keen to join the EU, and see the acquisition of visa-free travel as a key milestone on that route, as it implies EU approval of their own legal procedures.

"Citizens from these countries wishing to celebrate Christmas with their friends and relations in the Schengen area can now do so without needing visas. The links between these three countries and the EU have been strengthened," said Sweden's migration minister, Tobias Billstrom, who chaired the meeting in Brussels as holder of the EU's rotating presidency.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, recommended in October that citizens of the three countries who hold a modern biometric passport be granted visa-free travel by the year's end.

Interior ministers decided that the visa regime should be lifted on December 19 for holders of biometric passports who want to stay in the EU for less than 90 days within a six-month period.