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The ambassadors of the member countries of the European Union have agreed to give the mandate to the European Council to negotiate the visa liberalization process for Kosovo with the European Parliament. According to the decision, visa-free travel for Kosovo citizens will be on November 1, 2023, or no later than January 1, 2024.
Citizens of Kosovo will most likely be able to visit Europe without visas at the end of 2023.
The ambassadors of the member countries of the European Union agreed on Wednesday to give the mandate to the European Council to negotiate the visa liberalization process for Kosovo with the European Parliament.
According to the decision, the visa-free movement for Kosovo citizens will be possible when the European travel system, ETIAS, comes into force, and the date for this is November 1, 2023.
But, in case there will be delays for this system, visa liberalization for Kosovo will enter into force no later than January 1, 2024.
The Czech Presidency of the EU will now start negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission as the last step before visa-free travel.
"Today we have taken an important step for visa-free travel to Kosovo and now we hope to reach an agreement with the European Parliament to make this promise a reality. Visa liberalization has become possible due to Kosovo's efforts to strengthen border controls, migration management, and security, and we believe that this good cooperation will only strengthen in the future", said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavsky, in a press release published on Wednesday on the website of the European Council.
The Ambassador of Germany in Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, is happy with the decision of the ambassadors of the member states of the European Union to advance the visa liberalization process for Kosovo.
Rohde said it is a late decision that Germany has strongly defended.
"At last. A long overdue decision which Germany has strongly defended!" said Rohde.
The ambassadors have paved the way for the quick completion of the procedure that must be passed according to EU laws. Later it will return to the Council where it will be formally approved at the level of EU ministers.
According to the decision, Kosovo should aim to reach an agreement with EU member states for readmission. It applies to countries with which Kosovo still does not have an agreement. Likewise, Kosovo is expected to adopt the visa policy for citizens of third countries to the EU visa regime.
The decision of the ambassadors was expected to be taken last week, but it was removed from the agenda with the reasoning "due to the situation in the north", at the time of tensions over license plates.
It was the first time that a decision of the liberalization process was directly linked to the dialogue.
Kosovo, currently, is the only country in the Western Balkans whose citizens cannot move freely in this area.