"About 70,000 citizens from Kosovo have sought asylum in the EU," the Priština-based Albanian language daily Zeri is reporting on Thursday.

The newspaper described this as "a cancer" when it comes to Kosovo's visa liberalization bid.

"The inability to secure social safety in Kosovo" is what is prompting thousands of Kosovo residents to seek ways to move to EU member-states, in the hope they would be allowed to stay, according to the daily.

"Integration experts" have also been quoted as saying that Kosovo's institutions should be worried, as the development "could have a negative influence on the visa liberalization process."