Ten years ago this day, on December 15 2010, Albanian citizens traveled for the first time without needing a visa to an EU member country. 50 young men and women, along with the then-Interior Minister Lulzim Basha, made history when they flied to Brussels without an entrance visa for the Schengen area.

Holding only their biometric passports in their hands, they passed the border check-in in the Rinas airport and two hours later they set foot in the EU capital.

Later, the 50 youths flied to Rome to see to taste the magic of freedom in a neighbouring country so close to them and yet unreachable for many years due to the visa regime that from that day exists no more.