Besa Shahini, analyst with the European Stability Initiative think tank, writes in an opinion piece that it is difficult to actually pinpoint whether technical criteria of the visa liberalization process are being implemented in Kosovo as the assessment from the European Commission contains a vague vocabulary. The latest assessment of July 2014 speaks about the progress and recommendations for the future but, according to Shahini, it does not give clear evaluation of whether the necessary requirements were met or not.

Milica Petrovic, the European Commission Press Officer for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, told Radio Kosova on Thursday that the government of Kosovo should take strict measures to prevent the irregular migration. According to Petrovic, Kosovo government should increase its information campaign for immigrants; strengthen border controls in accordance with fundamental rights; investigate bus companies that allow travel from Kosovo and to strengthen operational cooperation with countries of transit and destination countries.

The municipality of Podujeve/Podujevo received a grant from the European Commission, to establish a Center for the collection, storage and processing of fruits and vegetables. Mayor of Podujeve/Podujevo, Agim Veliu, signed a contract with representatives of the European Commission in Kosovo, for the implementation of this project, in value of 483 thousand euros. Veliu considers this grant as a very important investment for the agriculture sector in Kosovo.

Koha Ditore runs an op-ed by Stefan Fule, the European Commission's Commissioner for Enlargement and the European Neighborhood Policy. When I joined the European Commission five years ago to deal with EU enlargement, who could have imagined that Kosovo would have made so much progress on its European path since? To start with, a major building block of our relations has been put in place this July: Kosovo has initialled a Stabilisation and Association Agreement – SAA for short – with the European Union. It is not just a formality.

The paper’s Brussels correspondent, Augustin Palokaj, says that there is very little curiosity for this year’s European Commission (EC) progress report and one of the reasons for this is that there is no uncertainty regarding possible recommendations that will derive from the document. Now, when Kosovo has already closed negotiations for Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and can make no further integration steps without being recognised by five EU member states, the EC has nothing to recommend, claims Palokaj.

Informal consultations concerning Chapter 35 will be held in Brussels on Sept.

The fourth high-level meeting in the framework of visa liberalization dialogue between Kosovo and European Commission took place in Pristina today. Kosovo delegation was led by Minister of European Integrations, Vlora Citaku, and Interior Minister, Bajram Rexhepi, while European Commission was represented by general director of internal affairs, Matthias Ruete, head of EU office in Pristina, Samuel Zbogar, director of the general directorate for enlargement, Jean Eric Paquet. in today’s meeting, EC gave its early assessments from the fact-finding missions and gave the opportunity to the Koso