System ETIAS was not alone, Bislimi says France had another visa request

The first Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Development and Dialogue, Besnik Bislimi, has acknowledged that some states in the Council of Europe's visa working group have demanded that visa liberalisation for Kosovo tie with some other elements according to their technicality, but that Kosovo is described as new conditions.

Bislimi, invited to the “Context” show on ATV, said even the European Union itself knows there is agreement not to have additional conditions beyond the 95 criteria that Kosovo has met.

“Reports we have on the inside show that there have absolutely been no state that has expressed hesitations or objections to visa liberalisation for Kosovo, and only because we have three types of positions, we have countries that without any reserve have supported immediate visa liberalisation for Kosovo, we have states that, for reasons of political dynamics, have not been able to give an official stance because they are on technical mandate, such as Italy, Sweden and Denmark. And there's a minority that don't object but want to link it to some other elements that for us are new conditions or criteria, which they claim are technical but to us are new conditions”, Bislim said.

Bislimi acknowledged that it tends to link visa liberalisation with the ETIAS system.

The main “is to get liberalisation into force when the EU starts functioning the E system TIAS, which is used for the identification or registration of persons travelling towards the EU from those countries which have received the free visa regime. But since this is technical process, and the date is not known when it can begin, the EU itself is against this because it looks like an additional condition and has an agreement that there will be no additional conditions and cannot be linked to a political opinion with a technical criterion which is unknown when it can start”, Bislim said.

However, it seems France has not only had one requirement, since Bilim said the harmonisation of the visa system with that of the European Union has also been required.

The second “Elemental that has been discussed concerns harmonising the Kosovo visa system with the European Union. There are a number of states which enjoy the free regime in Kosovo, but are with visa regimes with the EU. There is a request from France that Kosovo harmonise this system with that of the EU, they are talking about 18 Sosh states, but even this stance is not that it has received approval or approval because none of these 18 states are among the 30 states that have the largest number of migrants in the EU, and because such a system, or harmonisation, does not exist in countries around Kosovo”, Bislimi came.

He said on November 9th the next meeting will be held, while by then they will use diplomatic channels to discuss these states, which have expressed new criteria.