The Director for Western Europe, Western Balkans and Turkey at the European External Action Service, Angelina Eichhorst, said in a meeting with the Kosovo Assembly President, Kadri Veseli, that the EU expects Kosovo to implement all visa liberalisation criteria and that it will provide support for Kosovo’s European perspective. Veseli on his part assured the EU official that new institutions are committed to fulfill the conditions enabling the people of Kosovo visa-free travel to Europe.

The German Ambassador in Kosovo, Angelika Viets, says that internationals do not want to get involved on creation of the new government.

She says however that they only want to remind Kosovo politicians to resolve this matter with great responsibility, being that Kosovo has major problems, which are at the same time major challenges.

Ekonomia Online news website quoted European Commission spokesperson, Maja Kocijancic, as reiterating that Kosovo needs to implement two more conditions before being granted visa liberalisation: continue fight against high-level corruption and organised crime and conclude border demarcation with Montenegro. Kocijancic recalled that in a February meeting with President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urged for continuation of fight against organised crime and corruption.

Deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Enver Hoxhaj, said in an interview aired on Klan Kosova that he believed visa liberalisation will happen in 2018. “I don’t wish to mention dates but I believe that in January of 2018 citizens will be able to travel without visas,” Hoxhaj said.

Candidate for prime minister from the coalition between the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA), Ramush Haradinaj, reaffirmed his promise that if elected, Kosovo would gain visa liberalisation in 90 days. He said in a Facebook post that he stands by his promise and that “it is time for Kosovo’s European journey”.

European Parliament’s rapporteur for visa liberalisation for Kosovo, Tanja Fajon, said in an interview to Deutsche Welle that Kosovo needs to either ratify the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro or find a different alternative but that the decision would have to be taken by Kosovo politicians. Fajon said she understood the sensitivity of the border demarcation as a condition for visa liberalisation but added that it was imposed by the European Commission and that the government of Kosovo led by Hashim Thaci at the time, agreed.

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, will travel to Brussels next week where he is expected to present a new request regarding visa liberalisation for Kosovo. Mustafa is expected to urge the EU to grant Kosovo a type of conditional visa-free travel for a period of two years during which Kosovo would work on fulfilling the criteria for finalizing border demarcation with Montenegro. If Kosovo institutions fail to ratify the border demarcation by that time, the EU could reintroduce the visa regime.

The news website reports that the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro was supposed to be resent to the Assembly this week. While some MPs have expressed their opposition to the deal, EU high representatives have reiterated that the Assembly must adopt the agreement so that Kosovo can get closer to visa liberalisation.

Kosovo’s Minister for European Integration, Mimoza Ahmetaj, appealed to Kosovo Assembly MPs to ratify the Agreement with Montenegro on border demarcation as soon as possible, because it is the only remaining criteria for liberalisation of visas for Kosovo people to move freely in Schengen zone.

In an interview for Radio Kosova, Ahmetaj said that the EU High Representative, Frederica Mogherini, said that progress has been reached on fighting organized crime and corruption.

President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, said told German papers, Frankfurter Rundschau and Badische Zeitung, said that the decision on visa liberalisation is in the hands of Kosovo Assembly MPs and that to achieve this, they need to ratify the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro. “This is the only condition that has not yet been met,” Thaci said.