5 minutes agoEC acknowledges incorrectly demanding that regional states establish Kosovo visas
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)The European Commission acknowledged that in the annual monitoring report for visa liberalisation states published on December 5th, it has wrongly established a successor where Northern Macedonia and Montenegro were required to impose Kosovo's visa regime. The EC said there is no change in its positions and strongly supports [...]
The EC said there is no change in its positions and strongly supports visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens and demands that the visa regime in the Schengen Zone be removed without delay for Kosovars.
The establishment of followers where it was required that northern Macedonia and Montenegro impose visas on Kosovars because, as promised, these two states have not adapted visa policies to the European Union, prompted reactions in Kosovo, including from Kosovo's ambassador to Brussels, Agron Bajrami. He had named it an unacceptable “establishing the visa regime”, but the following day said the EC would improve this mistake.
“can confirm that there is absolutely no change in the European Commission's attitudes, and we absolutely support freedom of movement in the region”, European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said during a media conference.
The EC said this mistake will improve through a new version of the same report. This EU institution said that if this concession were true, it would be in conflict with the EU's stated support for freedom of movement among countries of the Western Balkan region. EC President Ursula von der Leyeen has also supported an agreement reached within the Berlin Process for free movement only with IDs among Western Balkan states.
Meanwhile, EC spokeswoman for domestic issues, Anita Hyper, said the EC “seriously supports freedom of movement in the region and entirely supports visa liberalisation for Kosovo as a priority issue”.
The “as far as the specific issue is concerned, we are improving and the improved” version will emerge, she said.
Kosovo is the only state in the region that does not have visa liberalisation with the European Union. Currently, the European Council has been given the mandate to negotiate the visa process for Kosovo with the European Parliament.
Under the decision, the visa-free movement for Kosovo citizens will be possible when the European travel system goes into effect, E TIAS, and the date for that is November 1st, 2023.
