You're reading: Italian foreign minister: Visa-free travel could be introduced between EU, Russia in 2010

Moscow - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said visa-free travel could be introduced between Russia and the European Union next year.

Currently, any of the 27 European Union members can veto and block any decision, Frattini said in an interview with the television channel Russia Today. This will become impossible in the future, because this issue will be decided in a qualified majority vote, he also said. A sufficient majority will be formed to introduce a visa-free regime for Russian citizens in 2010.

On the Russia-proposed idea of signing a European security treaty, Frattini said it was a good idea, which must be discussed objectively. Noting that he does not see it as an alternative to NATO, Frattini said that the proposal to perfect the Helsinki agreement is timely, given a complete change in the situation in the world.

This issue must be discussed first at the level of the European Union. EU members must agree what the general security treaty means, he said.