Between the middle of November and the first week of December, there will be a vote in the European Council on the country’s visa liberalisation process, rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament, Viola von Cramon, stated on Monday.
Viola von Cramon underlined that restrictions on the movement of Kosovo citizens should be removed as soon as possible since, according to her, all criteria and requirements of the EU have been met.
“The visa liberalisation process will be finalised. We hope we will have a date when visa liberalisation will occur. I saw that this was for the first time on the agenda of the working group of the Council of the European Union, last Thursday. A clear decision has not yet been made, there will be another vote from mid-November or early December,” she said.
“Behind the scenes, we are working hard to see a positive decision,” she added.
In 2018, the European Commission found that Kosovo has met all the criteria and proposed liberalisation.
The European Parliament has supported this decision, but some sceptical countries such as France and the Netherlands have not agreed with the Commission’s assessments as a whole.
While the Prague EU Council Presidency are keen to get an agreement across the finish line before the end of its six-month stint at the EU steering wheel in December, prospects of success are dimming for Pristina as the goalposts have been moved once again.
Several EU member states, including France, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain, have slowed down the Czech presidency’s push to end the EU visa requirement for Kosovo citizens as they are reportedly demanding additional security guarantees.
At a technical-level meeting of the Council in mid-October, representatives of France, which has repeatedly blocked a decision on the visa matter, added new criteria. This is namely that visa liberalisation for Kosovo must be linked to the functioning of the European security system, ETIAS.
The electronic system enables the verification of the data of citizens of third countries who do not need a visa to enter the Schengen Area. It requires every applicant to provide name, email, date of birth, and passport and to make a payment with a debit or credit card. The application is then reviewed, and authorities give a final decision as to whether that person can enter the Schengen Area.
Currently, the system is offline, but it is expected to be online in 2023, with no exact date given.
This is the first time ETIAS has been brought up in visa liberalisation discussions.
Convincing sceptical member states by the end of the Czech Presidency in December will be no easy task, which was made clear by the EU Council Visa Working Party on Thursday.
“The Working Party broadly welcomed the reopening of the discussion on the subject and generally supported the visa liberalisation process. In order to progress in this file, it will be necessary to clarify a number of related topics and continue the discussion,” the Czech presidency wrote in a statement.
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said that it is important that the states of the EU respect the recommendation of the European Commission and do not introduce additional criteria regarding visa liberalisation.
Osmani was clear in her disappointment that “it is not allowed in any way to establish additional criteria” during a meeting with the ambassadors of Germany, Italy and Slovenia in Prishtina.
According to a press release from the Presidency of Kosovo, Osmani said that the establishment of additional criteria for the liberalization of visas for Kosovo “would affect the denial of a right of our citizens and would hurt the credibility of the EU.”
Meanwhile, Western Balkan leaders are set to roll out ID-free travel between themselves, in a bid to create a common regional market.
