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 movement for citizens of Kosovo 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.

“Today we have taken an important step for Kosovo towards free movement without visas and we hope to reach an agreement with the European Parliament to make this promise a reality. The liberalization of visas has become possible thanks to Kosovo’s efforts to strengthen border control, to manage migration, and we believe that this good cooperation will only strengthen in the future”, said the Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavsky.

His country leads the presidency of the European bloc and drafted the text of the decision that was approved by EU ambassadors. The ETIAS system requires that foreign citizens, who travel without a visa to the territory of the EU, register their data in this system before the trip. France has been the country that has insisted the most that the entry into force of the liberalization of visas for Kosovo is linked to the operationalization of ETIAS, saying that it is important for increasing the security of the member countries.

/k.s/