9 minutes agosituation in the north removes visa liberalisation from the agenda
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)The proposal for visa liberalisation for Kosovo, which envisions free movement no further than January 1st 2024, was removed from the agenda of today's meeting of ambassadors of EU member states. The reasons for this are political and related to the situation in northern Kosovo. “due to developments [...]
The reasons for this are political and related to the situation in northern Kosovo.
“due to political developments in northern Kosovo, to have this point on the Coreper agenda [the ambassador's staff] is not ideal”, the Czech EU Presiscend said in announcing the postponement.
According to her, the discussion on this issue will be held on November 30th.
The situation in northern Kosovo has been tense, due to Prime Minister Albin Kurti's decision to launch the process of reregistering Serbian illegal license plates.
Serbs in the north, largely controlled by official Belgrade, oppose Kosovo plates, RKS, and have warned of resistance to them.
Despite the international community's calls for postponement of the reregistering process, Kurti has not given up.
Currently suspended until November 24th, the second phase of his plan, in an effort to give a chance to find an acceptable solution for both sides.
What happened in Brussels on November 22nd?
On Tuesday 22 November, visa advisers at the EU Council agreed with the proposal that visa liberalisation for Kosovo enter into force on January 1st 2024.
This date was Spain's request ʹone of five EU nations that does not yet recognise Kosovo's independence since the Czech EU presidency had originally proposed December 1st, 2023.
Under the new approved proposal, 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”.
Approval of this proposal was expected to come in order day at today's meeting of ambassadors of EU member states, to then proceed to other institutions.
Visa liberalisation will enable Kosovo citizens to travel freely to what is known as the Schengen area, consisting of 26 European states.
Currently, Kosovo is the only country in the Western Balkans whose citizens cannot move freely to this 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 has been some member states that have consistently expressed reservations. / REL
