Kosovo Awaits Brussels Vote on Visa Liberalisation

The European parliament's committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, LIBE, will take a vote on Thursday on visa liberalisation for Kosovo, following a debate on the issue on Wednesday.

The rapporteur for Kosovo at the Parliament, Tanja Fajon, met Kosovo's Minister for European Integration, Dhurata Hoxha, who went to Brussels to follow the process.

An optimistic press release from Hoxha said Fajon reconfirmed Kosovo's progress and had pledged that its citizens will soon enjoy the same free movement as other citizens of Europe.

"She stressed that, for the integration process to go even faster, the greatest work remains to be done, by implementing reforms in justice, the economy and other reforms as well as the Stabilisation and Association Agreement," the press release reads.

"We are hoping for a positive assessment from the LIBE Committee and informed [her] that the Ministry for European Integration had started a visa liberalisation [information] campaign," Hoxha tweeted after the meeting with Fajon.

Kosovo's government has launched an information campaign for citizens to get to know the country's potential rights and obligations as part of the EU's passport-free Schengen area.

"I welcome the launch of the information campaign on visa free-travel and against misuse," Fajon tweeted after meeting the Kosovo minister.

The LIBE committee will take on vote on the report of the rapporteur, and choose whether to approve the proposal for visa-free travel.

It will then vote to approve inter-institutional negotiations, while the Committee of Permanent Representatives, COREPER adopts the position of the negotiations by a qualified majority.

Hoxha told the media on Tuesday that, after "separate meetings with...