Hoti: Kosovo has met all standards for visa liberalisation

The prime minister of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti, has held a virtual meeting with European Policy Centre (European Policy Centre) leaders today, attended by over 40 eurodeputtes. Although a series of topics have been addressed in this conversation, affecting Kosovo's relations with the European Union, the conversation is particularly focused on the issue of visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens.

At the beginning of this meeting, Prime Minister Hoti has announced to his co-ordinators about the steps the Kosovo Government has taken to manage the RS independence 19, as well as to implement the country's economic recovery package, while, later, he has disclosed the dedication of Kosovo institutions to meet the requirements set for liberalisation of the visa regime.

In this context, Prime Minister Hoti recalled that the European Commission launched the visa liberalisation dialogue with Kosovo on January 19, 2012. In June 2012, the Commission handed over to Kosovo institutions a list of criteria that must be met, which identified legislation and institutional measures that Kosovo should adopt and implement to advance towards visa liberalisation. Travel consisted of 95 standards, more than for any other country in the region, in terms of migration, border management, security and fundamental rights.

During the following years, Prime Minister Hoti followed, the Commission adopted four visa dialogue reports in Kosovo, while in 2016 this Commission proposed visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens after meeting the last two remaining criteria, which were ratification of demarcation with Montenegro and fighting corruption and organised crime.

The government through a communique says that in July 2018, the Commission confirmed that Kosovo has met these two requirements, meeting all required standards in the guidelines for liberalisation.

The European Parliament, on September 13, 2018, agreed to start visa-free talks for Kosovo citizens, and that stance reaffirmed it on 28 March 2019. Also, there was another vote in September 2019 on the Liberalisation Committee, which voted for the start of talks with the European Union Council. This vote was confirmed at the European Parliament's plenary session on 9 October 2019 in Brussels.

But despite the Commission's confirmation of the fulfilment of all criteria related to visa liberalisation and the European Parliament's submissive vote, the process is still pending a decision by the Council of Europe. One of the concerns of member states is that visa liberalisation for Kosovo will cause a new wave of migration. However, it is important to note that much progress has been achieved in managing migration, while the number of asylum applications from Kosovo is insignificant. Based on the European Office for Asylum Support data, asylum seekers from Kosovo should no longer be concerned about the EU. Meanwhile, according to Eurostat data, Kosovo had a trend of decline in migration in recent years, and in that view stands better than many other countries in the region”, the report said.