Citizens of Kosovo should be able to enter the European Union without a visa in the future. Such plans received support from the European Parliament today (April 18).

The approval of the visa-free regime by the MEPs is an important step on the way to closer cooperation between Pristina and the EU, said MEP Theis Rutten, who led the European Parliament team in the negotiations on the new rules for entry into the Union.

According to the plans, by the end of next year at the latest, Kosovars should be able to stay in EU member states twice a year for 90 days without a visa. The same rule applies to EU citizens who want to travel to Kosovo.

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached an agreement in principle on this issue back in December, and the EP has now given its formal consent. Kosovo is the only one of the six countries from the Western Balkans that still does not benefit from a visa-free regime with the EU.

In December, the government of Kosovo officially submitted a request to join the EU. The accession process is likely to be long and complicated. EU members Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia, as well as Serbia, refuse to recognize Kosovo's independence. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but is still considered a breakaway territory by Belgrade.

The Committee of Ministers in EU recommends including systematically and explicitly the needs and priorities voiced by young Roma people in all policies, standards and programmes that impact them; assessing policies and democratic structures with the aim of redesigning them to ensure Roma youth’s effective participation, representation and inclusion. Combatting all forms and manifestations of structural anti-Roma racism and antigypsyism and their impact on Roma youth participation are necessary conditions to ensure young Roma people’s full and effective access to and fulfilment of all fundamental human rights and freedoms; including free and non-discriminatory access to quality education, training and employment opportunities for all young Roma people. 

The Committee of Ministers also recommends supporting and strengthening the capacity of Roma youth-led organisations, groups and initiatives and Roma youth-focused organisations and youth centres as spaces for exercising citizenship, promoting youth work and non-formal education/learning and for expressing and fostering their cultural identity, language, and history.  

All policies, measures and programmes related to this recommendation should respect the diversity of Roma communities addressing, in particular, the intersectional discrimination faced by Roma girls, Roma women, LGBTI+ Roma, Muslim Roma and young Roma people living in isolated and rural communities.  

Civil society, including mainstream youth councils and organisations, should be invited to contribute to the implementation and evaluation of this recommendation. The implementation of the recommendation will be examined every five years after its adoption.

Link: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/young-roma-people-committee-of-ministers-issues-recommendation-to-ensure-their-participation%C2%A0?fbclid=IwAR22kTBuu8kUdnj3Jd28Wl77lYS9nun9pPk4iY8dP4_j_PAKcOaZ8G9yAYA