The foreign ministers of five European countries – Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia – have asked the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell, to include the Western Balkans on the agenda of the next Council meeting. Advice.
According to local Kosovo media, in a letter to Borrell, the countries’ representatives demanded that visa liberalization for Kosovo be accelerated, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The ministers said that EU authorities must work on the visa liberalization process in Kosovo and, at the same time, called on the EU to grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The letter to Borrell, including the above-mentioned requests and some others, was signed by Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, Minister Slovenian Foreign Minister Anže Logar and Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok.
The next meeting of EU foreign ministers will take place on Monday April 11. However, it has not yet been revealed whether the topic of Kosovo and the rest of the Western Balkan countries will be included on the agenda.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, also expects the Council to grant visa liberalization to citizens of Kosovo without delay. Metsola’s statement regarding visa liberalization in Kosovo follows a conference with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani.
“Together with President Vjosa Osmani, I welcomed Kosovo’s alignment with sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Genuine and continued engagement in the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue is essential for peace and stability in the region,” Metsola wrote on his Twitter account.
Osmani explained that his country is preparing to join several international organizations while the dialogue with Serbia continues.
In addition to the above, former German Europe Minister Michael Roth also called on the EU to grant visa liberalization for Kosovo. Roth said the EU must keep its promise.
“The EU must keep its promises: start accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, liberalize visas for Kosovo. Democracy and the rule of law are important,” » Roth wrote on his official Twitter account earlier in March.
Furthermore, Roth emphasized that the Western Balkan countries “belong” to the EU and suggested that the EU begins accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.
These comments were made after a meeting with Miroslav Lajčák, currently EU special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and other regional issues in the Western Balkans. Lajčák agrees with Roth’s statement, indicating that he also expects the authorities to keep their promise.