PRISTINA, April 18 /ATA/ The European Parliament is set to vote Monday the decision to liberalize visas for citizens of Kosovo – which brings the procedures for this issue to an end.
The legal act for visa liberalization will be signed a day later, while the only step that must be taken after that is the publication of the decision in the Official Gazette of the EU and its entry into force.
The Council of Ministers of the EU has approved with a simple majority the visa liberalization for Kosovo last month.
It is now clear that the implementation of the decision will not be postponed beyond January 1, 2024.
This issue was related to the ETIAS travel system in Europe, namely its operationalisation.
Since the deadline for setting to operation the ETIAS has been postponed to 2024, the abolition of visas for citizens of Kosovo is expected to take effect on January 1 of the next year.
In the European Parliament, there will be no impediments to vote, as a large majority of deputies support the liberalization of visas for Kosovo.
In fact, the European Parliament has been the EU institution, which has mostly supported the free movement of the Kosovo citizens and has constantly slammed the Council of the EU and the European Commission for footdragging in this process.
The legal act on visa liberalization for Kosovo is expected to be signed by the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and the minister for Europe of Sweden, Jessika Roswall, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
In attendance of the signing ceremony will be the first deputy prime minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, and the minister of foreign affairs of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla.
Visa liberalization will enable the citizens of Kosovo to travel freely in what is known as the Schengen area, which consists of 27 European countries.
This regime allows visa-free travel for only up to 90 days – within six months – in any of the member states of the Schengen area.
Kosovo, currently, is the only country in the Western Balkans whose citizens cannot move freely in the Schengen area.
Despite the fact that the European Commission since 2018 has confirmed several times that Kosovo has delivered on all the requirements for visa liberalization, several member countries have constantly expressed their reservations. /REL/
