BRUSSELS, 14 Dec EU tentatively agreed to introduce visa-free regime for unrecognized Kosovo for short-term travel, the EP said.
«On Wednesday, negotiating groups from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a long-awaited agreement on granting freedom of short-stay visas for Kosovo,» the release noted.
According to the document, we are talking about the Schengen area.
As part of the agreement, holders of Kosovo-issued passports are exempt from visa requirements for short stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period.
Now this decision must be separately agreed upon by the European Parliament and the EU countries.
br>On Wednesday, the head of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo, Vyosa Osmani, Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the speaker of the «parliament» Glauk Konyuftsa solemnly signed the application for EU accession, which was expected to be officially submitted on Thursday in Brussels. After the signing, Kurti said that Pristina would hand over the application to the Czech Republic's presidency of the Council of the European Union on Wednesday.Last Sunday, soldiers of the special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo invaded and occupied a facility at the Gazivode dam, from which they removed Serbian flags and expelled a Serb guard. This is the main source of water and accumulation for the hydroelectric power station located there. Most of the lake is located in the predominantly Serb municipality of Zubin Potok, as are three other areas in the north of the province.
Kosovo Serbs erected barricades on highways in the north of the province the day before because of the situation with the former police officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs self-proclaimed republic by Dejan Pantic. The Kosovo Albanian authorities detained him at the Yarine checkpoint at the entrance to Central Serbia, suspecting him of «terrorism».
For the night, the protesters set up tents to be on duty at the barricades. The Kosovo police, for their part, blocked the entrance to the region for cars and pedestrians from Central Serbia to the north of the region.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stressed that Belgrade will continue to fight on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija by all legal means. According to him, Pristina should form a Community of Serb Communities (CSO) in accordance with the 2013 Brussels Agreement. The Serbian leader promised to send a request to the command of the NATO mission on the distribution of the Serbian police and army contingent in Kosovo and Metohija, noting that these actions are in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1244.