Spain will be the only Schengen country that will not apply the visa agreement for Kosovo

The European Commission has assured this Friday that Spain will be the only country in the Schengen area that will not apply the visa liberalization agreement for Kosovoagreed by the Twenty-seven for January 2024.

Spain does not recognize the travel documents of Kosovarssomething that Slovakia and Greece do, the other countries of the Schengen area that do not recognize the independence of the former Serbian province, so to apply the European measure Spain must make a change in its policy on documents issued by Pristina.

“Of the Schengen countries, all but one (Spain) have recognized Kosovo’s travel documents, which means that the visa waiver for Kosovo will allow those who have a Kosovar passport travel visa-free except to one country“, said the community spokesman for Justice, Christian Wigand, at a press conference.

Speaking from Berlin, where he met with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and the European Union, José Manuel Albares, limited himself to recalling the policy of non-recognition of Spainwithout clarifying if the authorities will address any adjustment in the issue of passports to comply with the pact of the Twenty-seven.

“Spain has a policy of non-recognition of Kosovo and entails the non-recognition of Kosovar passports, which we have been applying consistently,” he assured. “In our case, we do not recognize passports“He pointed out, when asked about the case of Greece and Slovakia, that they do accept Kosovar travel documents.

Within the EU, already at the end of 2022 the Member States agreed on this measure with the support of Spain. Visa liberalization will enter into force in January 2024 at the earliestaccording to the pact, coinciding with the end of the Spanish presidency of the EU.

Although, at the time of its application, Spain will have to address changes. Slovakia, a country that does not recognize the independence of Kosovo either, does accept ordinary Kosovo passports, although it maintains the veto on diplomatic and special ones, the same case as Greece.

Diplomatic sources concede that the Spanish authorities will have to face changes in their policy regarding Kosovar documents, after stressing that Spain intends to “execute” the measure so that the Kosovar population can move around Europe without the need for a visa.

“The necessary adjustments will have to be made to apply the measure,” they explain, assuming that now Madrid it has eight months to come up with a formula that allows Pristina’s passports to be validated without this implying a change in the question of the independence of Kosovo, whose recognition is ruled out.

The European Parliament gave the final green light on Tuesday to the exemption of visas for Kosovo for short-term trips to the EU, something that the authorities of the Balkan enclave have celebrated as a “victory” that brings the bloc closer to the former Serbian province.