Kosovo's Problematic Visa Liberalization Process for Continental Europe

Europe is known to be an area of free movement of goods, capital, services but most importantly people. Therefore, one person having either an EU Passport or a Schengen visa can travel around the continent without having extra requirements. However, Kosovo is the only country in continental Europe that does not benefit from the EU's visa-free policy apart from Russia and Belarus.

Visa issues in Kosovo can be traced back to the country’s history itself.

Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia over a decade just after the 1998-1999 war that prompted NATO to intervene against Slobodan Milosevic's dictatorship in Serbia.

The Kumanovo Agreement was reached on June 9 1999, in Kumanovo, Macedonia, between the International Security Force (KFOR) and the governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia. It ended the Kosovo War and formed new fundamental connections between Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Force. Moreover, Kumanovo Agreement insured the evacuation of Belgrade-controlled soldiers from the ethnic Albanian-majority region and permitted the United Nations to organize a civil operation with NATO maintaining safety and security, becoming Kosovo Europe's first UN protectorate.

Ever since, the world community, led by the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union, has devoted enormous funds and effort to ensure that the country soon becomes a full-fledged democracy.

The EU Rule of Law Operation, or EULEX, was established in 2007 by Brussels as its largest humanitarian mission in a non-member state to aid the local judicial and police service.

Furthermore, Serbia, which considers its former region to be part of its territory, has aggressively fought to stop Kosovo from becoming a full member of international organizations such as the UN and Interpol ever since the 2008 proclamation.

Likewise, Serbia has spearheaded an international de-recognition effort to undermine Kosovo's independence, with the controversy affecting the visa liberalization process as well. On the other hand, during 2009 and 2010, all these other states in the neighborhood managed to negotiate the visa liberalization regime.

Since 2008, the country has been given the desired visa liberalization pledge multiple times, most recently in 2014, following settling the border issue with Montenegro. 

In June, the EU Council was thought to be discussing eliminating the impediment as European states sought to enhance their dominance in the area, worried that Russia might take advantage of the cavity formed through the war in Ukraine. 

Therefore, visa liberalization, still remains to be a utopian dream for Kosovars.