Brussels – ESI advocates visa process for Kosovo

Alexandra Stiglmayer – Ilir Dugolli – Ulrike Lunacek

On 13 January 2011, ESI Senior Analyst Alexandra Stiglmayer participated in a conference on Kosovo organised by Think Young, a think-tank targeting young Europeans, in cooperation with Google. Other speaker at the debate, which took place in Brussels and was titled "The Youth as Promoter of the EU Integration of Kosovo", were Ulrike Lunacek, member of the European Parliament and rapporteur on Kosovo, and Ilir Dugolli, Kosovo's Ambassador to Belgium.

Alexandra presented ESI's most recent report on the visa issue in Kosovo and argued that the EU was shooting itself in the foot by denying Kosovo a visa liberalisation process. She said if Kosovo were given such a process, it would work on a long list of issues that matter to the EU's security, from border control and document security to the fight against organised crime, illegal migration and corruption. Kosovo would automatically have a common agenda with EULEX. It would also have to further improve the reintegration of forced returnees to Kosovo, in particular Roma and other minorities, and it would have to fight discrimination against minorities more proactively. She also stressed that Kosovo had done more on relevant issues, such as readmission, than the Western Balkans before they received a visa liberalisation process.

If you would like to know more about the event, read the conference report by "Think Young".