Are we moving without visas this year? MPs say we're at EU's hands

Vetevendosje Movement MP Fatmire Kolcaku, once and a member of the European Integration Commission, says she is not optimistic that Kosovars will move freely to the European Union this year. So does Social Democrat Initiative deputy Milaim Zeka, under which visas can be liberalised only with the EU political decision.

Kolcak for Periscopi says the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo have not worked on fighting crime and corruption as one of the main conditions set by the European Union for visa liberalisation.

“Already shown that the main condition for visa liberalisation has been fighting crime and corruption. And I consider that at this moment this condition is beyond compare for Kosovo. This government is not declining evidence of political will, to fight crime and corruption, but rather is proving the opposite”, Kolcak has stated in a pronomation for Periscope.

According to her, Kosovo can receive positive assessment regarding visa liberalisation, only if the European Union removes it as a condition, fighting crime and corruption.

“If Europe closes its eyes to the fact that there is no political will in Kosovo to fight this negative phenomenon, which is actually a methodic cancer”, it has said.

But if that condition remains, Kolcak says visa liberalisation will not happen this year either.

If this criterion is based on non-fulfillment, in fact key, visa liberalisation is unlikely to occur for this year. In fact, if it continues with this trend the current government will, but more years will pass without this criterion being met. So it remains to be seen that the European Community has to walk away as a condition and make liberalisation, or that this government will actually realise that without turning to itself, without fighting corruption within its ranks. If this is going to be the main condition, then we're not optimistic”, she has declared.

However, she says she is expected to see what EU officials will undertake.

It's a condition that at least evidence is given, that work has begun in that direction. It also depends on EU officials if they make any concessions in this direction, and then we will see what will happen”, the deputy of the Vetevendosje Movement for Periscope has finished.

And Social Democrat Initiative MP Milaim Zeka says the visa decision is strictly political.

The issue of visa liberalisation for Kosovo is strictly political. It is not a matter that depends on meeting the criteria the European Union has set. Because the criteria have not been met by Ukraine or Moldova, The criteria for EU entry, even 1,000 years, had not met Romania. These are political decisions”, Zeka said of Periscope.

He says optimistic that the EU will liberalise visas for Kosovars, not for the fact that institutions have worked to achieve this, but for what the EU does not want to keep Kosovars isolated.

On the basis of this political decision, to reduce Russian influences in the Balkans, I hope the EU will give the green light for visa liberalisation for Kosovo. Not that we have worked as a Kosovo state, either as a civil society, or as a Government of Parliament, or as a political party. None of these factors have made Kosovo's state-owned aides, I was told we have done something about visa liberalisation for Kosovo. But Europe simply does not want to keep 2 million Albanians isolated in zoo cages. And that made me optimistic that the EU will vote for visa liberalisation”, has concluded Zeka, who is once also a member of the Commission for European Integration.

Artan Murati, from the Kosovo Democratic Institute, claims that there is a chance for liberalisation to take place in 2018, but this can only happen if Kosovo receives positive recognition from the EU, and whether the key condition of fighting crime and corruption is met.

In short, the year 2018 does not have to be the year of visa liberalisation, even though there is a theoretical and real chance for that. Will that happen, it now depends directly on Kosovo's lobby and whether we can convince the Europeans that the 1.7 million Kosovo residents will not destabilise the EU nor influence the outcome of the European Parliament elections. Normally, this can happen if after we receive a positive assessment that we have fought corruption in the right way!”, Murati has indicated.

Tomorrow and tomorrow, much will be decided on the fate of Balkan states and their EU integration, including the visa liberalisation process for Kosovo.

The next EU summit, attended by leaders of member states, will be held on June 28th and 29th. Similarly, General Affairs Council, who co-ordinates the work of the European Council, held a meeting in Luxembourg yesterday, where he discussed some of the key silences regarding the Western Balkans. As far as Kosovo is concerned, on the basis of yesterday's meeting, it is very likely that the visa issue will not be discussed until after the new elections for the European Parliament, held in May 2019, and that, strictly for political reasons”, has ended Murati./Periscopi/