European Parliament reconfirms support for visa liberalisation for third time this year

The vote has occurred despite opposition from several EU member states, in particular, those that have not yet recognised Kosovo as an independent state.

49 members of this committee voted to start talks with the European Council, whose approval is the last step to be taken so that Kosovo citizens can travel visa-free to the Schengen Zone member states.

According to VisaGuide. World this is the third time this year that the European Parliament is voting to start talks with the EU Council on Kosovo. He has refused to start negotiations because of the opposition of some EU members, including Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain, which do not recognise Kosovo as an independent state, as well as several other states that fear that a new wave of migrations towards Europe could start once the visa-free travel agreement with Kosovo enters into force.

During a plenary debate in March of this year, rapporteur Tanja Fajon had criticised EU governments for failing to make visa liberalisation available for Kosovo. ” The EU governments have failed to fulfill what they promised”, Fajon had complained, adding that EU member states are blocking a small country for no real reason.

The European Parliament's Commission for Civil Freedoms (LIBE) had given the green light for visa liberalisation to Kosovo citizens in August last year, for the first time. Later, in September, the European Parliament agreed to start talks on abolishing the visa regime for Kosovo.

Now the Council of Ministers must agree to shift Kosovo under the visa-free list in order to complete the process. While many senior EU officials and politicians from the Member States have expressed their concern that visa liberalisation is delayed for no reason, just as rapporteur Fajon, some of the other EU members still feel that Kosovo does not qualify for liberalisation, despite having met the established criteria.

Following the 2014 refugee crisis in Europe, during which Kosovars were leading asylum seekers from countries listed as safe, the EU fears that a possible influx of asylum seekers or illegal migrants from Kosovo could happen again. However, a report published by Schengen VisaInfo shows that asylum seekers from Kosovo should no longer be concerned about EU countries.

In fact, there are 12 states that already have a visa-free travel agreement with the EU, which even years after reaching agreements, still present the highest number of groundless asylum requirements, including Kosovo's neighbours, Albania, Northern Macedonia and Serbia.