The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said on Friday that the “technical requests” raised by several member countries regarding the liberalization of visas for Kosovo should not influence political decision-making.

She made these statements after the meetings she held with the representatives of France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria in Kosovo, to discuss the developments after the October 13 meeting in the working group for visas of the European Council, regarding the liberalization of visas for Kosovo.

“The technical requirements raised by some of the EU member states related to ETIAS, the European system for authorization and information about travel, should not affect the political decision-making and setting the date of entry into force of the decision on the liberalization of visas for the citizens of Kosovo”.

According to her, another situation constitutes discrimination for the citizens of Kosovo.

According to the announcement of the Presidency, Osmani told the European officials that Kosovo will be included in the ETIAS system at the moment the system becomes operational, and that this should not affect the date of entry into force of the liberalization decision.

The proposal to link visa liberalization to the ETIAS system is believed to have been made by French officials, and has been supported by at least four other countries: Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.

The Czech Presidency has said through a statement that in order to move forward on this topic, “it is necessary to clarify some issues, and continue with the discussions”.

The next meeting of this group is expected to be in November of this year.