After a European Parliamentary Committee, LIBE, voted on Thursday in favour of visa liberalisation for Kosovo, its leaders greeted the development as a welcome step towards ending the current barriers on free movement.
In a landmark development for Kosovo, the European Parliament’s Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, LIBE, on Thursday voted decisively in favour of Kosovo having a visa-free regime with the European Union’s passport-free Schengen area.
Thirty members of the committee voted in favour, ten against and two abstained.
The repporteur for Kosovo at the Parliament, Tanja Fajon, hailed the development as ending Kosovo’s sense of isolation.
“Kosovo has been isolated on the Balkan visa liberalisation map for far too long. I am proud that a large majority of MEPs voted in favour of allowing Kosovar citizens to travel freely for shorts-stays in the Schengen area,” she said.
Fajon added that Kosovo citizens “truly deserve it”, adding that much work has been done during the process.
“The conditions to be met by Kosovo were set very high, significantly higher than for other Balkan countries and they have all been fulfilled, as officially confirmed by the European Commission, including the fight against corruption and organised crime,” Fajon said.
Presuming that no other reasons for further delays exist in preventing Kosovo citizens from visa- free travel in EU, Fajon called on EU member states “to recognise it, and to adopt their position as soon as possible”.
Tanja Fajon, mag. ✔@tfajon I am happy @EP_Justice just adopted the decision to enter into negotiations with the @EUCouncil on #visa liberalisation for#Kosovo citizens. This is an important step to bring #Kosovo closer to Europe and to break the isolation. Well done and congratulations! @TheProgressives 10:23 AM – Aug 30, 2018 116 56 people are talking about this
✔@tfajon
I am happy @EP_Justice just adopted the decision to enter into negotiations with the @EUCouncil on #visa liberalisation for#Kosovo citizens. This is an important step to bring #Kosovo closer to Europe and to break the isolation. Well done and congratulations! @TheProgressives
116
56 people are talking about this
The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, called the decision as “a very fair” one.
“We are increasingly approaching the final decision, long- overdue, to remove every barrier to free movement for our citizens in the Schengen area,” Thaci wrote on Facebook.
Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said he was grateful for the ongoing work of MEP Fajon, adding that Kosovo also had done a great deal of work, “especially in strengthening the rule of law, so it is certain that the whole process will be successfully completed, enabling our citizens to move freely in EU countries,” Haradinaj wrote on Facebook
For more read the full of article at The Balkaninsight
