Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, in an interview with the Germany-based Handelsblatt said that Kosovo’s membership in the European Union and NATO is an irreversible way. “The European Commission has called on the EU to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Kosovo and this is the best evidence that Kosovo has met the criteria set by Brussels for the SAA,” Thaci said. According to him, Kosovo had to meet many more criteria than the countries of the region in order to be granted visa liberalization. “Kosovo has met all the criteria, so the citizens of Kosovo now rightly expect that this year the European Commission to give a recommendation so that they can travel without visas in the Schengen area,” he said.