Apostolova: Visa liberalisation to happen as soon as possible

The head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Natalia Apostolova, has talked today about the visa liberalisation process for Kosovo.

Following the European Commission's publication of the Progress Report for Kosovo, Apostolova stressed that in the current report, all criteria have been met, and the European Commission and Parliament recommend liberalisation for Kosovo as soon as possible.

I think this is the strongest language we've seen in the report that encourages member states to find solutions as soon as we can”, Apostolova has indicated.

Otherwise, in the progress report, in the part on political criteria, Kosovo has reportedly made progress in implementing some key EU-related reforms, especially in terms of improving the legal framework in the areas of rule of law and public administration.

The Assembly was able to build a majority on several key strategic issues for Kosovo, as indicated by the ratification of the border agreement with Montenegro and the adoption of important legislative reforms in the EU.

However, the Assembly continued to operate in a highly polarised political context and remained weaknesses in its overall functioning, as evidenced obviously by the continuing lack of quorum, resulting in delays in legislative activity.

There has been limited progress in addressing the findings and recommendations of the EU election observation mission regarding parliamentary and municipal elections held in 2017, the progress report on political criteria says.