The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee today voted against beginning negotiations on the liberalisation of visas for citizens of Kosovo. The S&D Group remains strongly in favour of visa liberalisation, however this can only begin when the government of Kosovo has addressed all the outstanding issues.

S&D Vice-President Tanja Fajon, who is leading on the topic in the European Parliament, said:

"I am very happy that the LIBE committee supported my report today in an effort to bring to the end the isolation of Kosovo citizens once and for all. The ball is now in Kosovo's court. There are still two remaining issues that need to be addressed by the parliament in Pristina before we can begin negotiations on visa liberalisation. We strongly believe that the future of Kosovo is in the European Union and visa liberalisation is a step in that direction. However, we cannot bend the rules - we need to see that the final issues are addressed before negotiations begin.

“We urge the government to ratify the border agreement with Montenegro. We can then begin to work on finalising the visa liberalisation agreement.”