Bender: System ETIAS, excuse for delaying visa liberalisation

Christophe Bender, deputy director of the European Stability Initiative, has commented to Radio Free Europe the fact that there may be new conditions for visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens.

We recall that at the EU Council's visa processing group meeting on 13 October, French officials have proposed that visa liberalisation for Kosovo be linked to functioning of the security system in Europe, ETHIAS.

ET The IAS is a European system of authorization and information about the journey that is expected to be fully operational by 2023.

“in any case, the insistence on ETIAS' entry into force is simply an excuse to delay granting visa liberalisation to Kosovo citizens. E TIAS is a registration system for citizens of countries that do not need visas to enter the Schengen area. It will not take effect before the end of 2023. There is no reason to wait for this”, Bender said.

He has also cited the fact that citizens of other Western Balkan countries already move without visas and do not need to wait for the ETIAS system.

Bender, who also works for the Human Science Institute in Vienna, has said that EU states should make sure that the visa liberalisation decision for Kosovo is made quickly and “without additional terms”.

This requires a real effort by member states that support visa liberalisation for Kosovo to convince skeptics. If there is no such effort, the most likely scenario is a significant further delay”, he has said, among other things.

“Pushing back visa liberalisation is deeply unfair to Kosovo and its citizens. It is also brief and harmful for the EU, as it undermines its credibility and influence in the Balkans as a whole”, Bender added.

Representatives of power and opposition in Kosovo have reacted Friday to new conditions for visa liberalisation for Kosovars.

MPs from various parties have said this news constitutes injustice for Kosovo citizens.

Kosovo remains the only country in the Western Balkans to still have a visa regime.

Besides connecting visa liberalisation with E system TIAS, Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi, has said that EU member states have had three types of positions related to liberalisation.

“We have countries which without any reserve have supported the immediate visa liberalisation for Kosovo, we have those states, which for the reasons of political dynamics have been unable to give the official stance, because some of the sos are on the technical mandate of their governments, is Italy and Sweden, as well as Denmark that has just warned the new elections. There are also minority countries, which do not oppose visa liberalisation for Kosovo, but want to link it to several other elements, which for us are new conditions, or new criteria. Although they claim they're only technical, for us new conditions”, he said.

The European Commission has recommended visa liberalisation for Kosovo in 2018.

On 12 October of this year, this Commission has confirmed in the annual Progress Report that it supports the recommendation made to abolish visas for Kosovo and the agreement that the state has fulfilled all criteria.