REL: Proposal passes, Kosovo liberalised visas in 2024

Representatives of EU member states agreed with the proposal that visa liberalisation for Kosovo enter into force on January 1st 2024.

Free Europe Radio agrees that reconciliation was reached at a meeting of visa advisers in Brussels on Tuesday.

That date was Spain's request that one of the five EU nations not yet recognise Kosovo's independence.

Similarly, the Czech Republic, which currently heads the six-month EU presidency, demanded that visa liberalisation for Kosovo be empowered on December 1st 2023.

But this proposal did not go to a meeting of the EU visa processing group, which was held last week, as Spain and then Slovakia and Sweden submitted remarks and demanded, as they said, additional clarifications. Their excuses were not made clear.

Under the proposal adopted Tuesday, the “entry into force of visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens will start at the time when the travel system E is functional TIAS but not later than January 1, 2024”.

The adoption of this proposal will be in order day at the EU member states' ambassadorial meeting, to be held Wednesday.

Visa liberalisation will enable Kosovo citizens to travel freely to what is known as the Schengen area, consisting of 26 European states.

To get to this point, Kosovo has to pass several steps:

Link to ETIAS system

ET The IAS is a digital system intended to make an identity of visitors entering the Schengen area from outside the EU.

This system had to start operating in 2022, but the date was extended several times and is now mentioned in November 2023.

At a meeting of the EU Council visa processing group held on 13 October, French officials proposed that visa liberalisation for Kosovo be linked precisely to the functionality of the ETIAS.

The Czech Republic later came up with the proposal that the entry into force of visa liberalisation be linked to the functionality of ETIAS, but also set the date for strengthening the decision: “not later than December 1st, 2023”.

At Spain's request, this date was extended to January 1, 2024.

Kosovo is the only country in the Western Balkans whose citizens cannot move freely into the Schengen area.

This, despite the fact that the European Commission, since 2018, has confirmed several times that Kosovo has met all the conditions for visa liberalisation, but have been some member states that have consistently expressed reservations.