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.

Over 15 thousand people have signed a petition to accelerate the visa liberalization process for Kosovo, an activity that started a week ago by civil society, led by the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS). The signatures coupled with 500 letters to the European Union representative in Kosovo, Samuel Zbogar and Kosovo Minister for European Integration, Bekim Collaku, through which the people are expressing their need for freedom of movement.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, said today at the fifth meeting of the dialogue on the Stabilization/Association Agreement (SAA) that the SAA is the foundation of Kosovo’s path toward European Union integration, economic development, the rule of law and poverty alleviation. Mustafa said that public administration reforms are among the priorities of the Kosovo government and that the latter is also drafting a national strategy for economic development.

The paper’s Brussels-based correspondent, Augustin Palokaj, writes in his weekly column that even if European Commission were to positively assess implementation of visa liberalization criteria by Kosovo institutions, there are certain developments which, according to EU officials, could have a negative impact on the process.

Kosovo’s Interior Minister, Skender Hyseni, said on Wednesday that it is unfair that Kosovo continues to be isolated, while many countries like Moldova, Eastern Timor or Mexico move freely without visas in the Schengen area. Hyseni made these comments during the dialogue on Partnership for Migration between Kosovo and Switzerland, where he asked Switzerland to support Kosovo in the field of visa liberalization.

Kosovo’s Minister for European Integration, Bekim Collaku, submitted today the last comprehensive report of the Kosovo institutions on meeting the criteria for visa liberalization. Collaku submitted the report to the EU Special Representative in Kosovo, Samuel Zbogar, to forward it to the European Commission. Collaku said that the comprehensive report that Kosovo submitted to the EU will serve as a solid foundation to successfully conclude this very important process. “We need to continue with strict implementation of legislation covered in the guide.

Kosovo expects a positive outcome from the European Commission regarding the criteria for visa liberalization process for Kosovo.  The Ministry of European Integration has already concluded its second report which includes fulfillment of the criteria set by the European Union evaluation mission. The European Integration Minister Bekim Collaku told Radio Free Europe that this report includes the technical and legislative packages necessary for this process.

Kosovo’s Minister of European Integration, Bekim Collaku, will travel to Sweden today to meet with senior officials of the Swedish Government and to obtain support for advancing Kosovo’s European agenda and to deepen the bilateral cooperation.  Collaku will be received by Foreign Minister of Sweden, Margot Wallstrom, with whom he will discuss the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) and visa liberalization dialogue for Kosovo.

Kosovo faced harsher criteria for the lifting of EU visa requirements than all the other countries in the Western Balkans, a local think tank said.

Kosovo’s path towards visa-free travel in the Schengen zone has been markedly more difficult than that of other Western Balkan countries, said a report published on Monday by the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), a Kosovo think-tank.

The Kosovo-based think tank, Group for Legal and Political Studies, presented a study today into the visa liberalization process. The study found that there is a significant difference between the European Commission’s visa liberalization roadmap for Kosovo and those for other Western Balkans countries. According to the Group, Kosovo has had 50 more requirements than the regional countries.