COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (KosovoMT:Style_footnote reference,Superscript,Style>*_x0009_This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.)
Date: 2023-03-10
Institutions: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: EU visa policy, Kosovo, Schengen Agreement, external border of the EU, foreign national

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 10.3.2023  COM(2023) 138 final 2016/0139 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (Kosovo*)                                                  * This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999  and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.  
 
2016/0139 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council on amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries 
whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and 
those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (Kosovo*) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2016) 277 – 2016/0139 COD): 

[10 May 2016]. 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

[28 March 2019]. 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

[9 March 2023]. 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The aim of the proposal is: 

(a)  To allow Kosovo citizens to travel to the EU without a visa for 90 days in any 
180-day  period  by  transfering  Kosovo  to  the  EU’s  visa-free  list  of  third 
countries. 

(b)  To recognise the continuous commitment of the Kosovo authorities in fullfiling 
the benchmarks of the Visa Liberalisation Roadmap, which have been assessed 
as fufilled by the European Commission since July 2018.  

(c)  To  offer  the  entire  Western  Balkans  region  visa-free  access  towards  the 
Schengen area with the inclusion of Kosovo in the list and therefore continue 
to  increase  the  ties  and  people-to-people  contacts  between  the  EU  and  the 
entire  region,  while  ensuring  that  joint  efforts  are  pursued  to  fight  against 
organised crime and irregular migration.   

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The position of the Council as adopted in the first reading fully reflects the agreement reached 
in  the  first  and  only  trilogue  between  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council  and  the 
Commission held on 14 December 2022. The main points of this agreement  reflected in the 
recitals of the Regulation are the following:  

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This  designation  is  without  prejudice  to  positions  on  status,  and  is  in  line  with  UNSCR  1244/1999  
and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. 

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Kosovo  has  met  the  requirements  of  its  roadmap  towards  a  visa-free  regime. 
The exemption  from  the visa  requirement  will ensure that the whole Western 
Balkan region is subject to the same visa regime. 

The  exemption  from  the  visa  requirement  will  apply  only  to  holders  of 
biometric  passports  issued  by  Kosovo  in  line  with  the  standards  of  the 
International  Civil  Aviation  Organisation  (ICAO),  and  will  apply  on  the  date 
on which the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) 
starts operations , or from 1 January 2024, whichever date comes first.  

Before  the  application  of  the  exemption  from  the  visa  requirement,  it  is 
important  that  readmission  agreements  or  arrangements,  as  applicable,  be 
concluded with the Member States that do not  yet have such an agreement or 
arrangement.  Once  concluded,    Kosovo  is  to  fully  implement  those,  while 
respecting the principle of non-refoulement. 

Kosovo should seek to further align its visa policy with the EU’s list of visa-
required third countries, in particular those third countries presenting irregular 
migration or security risks to the EU. 

The Commission is to actively monitor the implementation of the requirements 
of the roadmap towards a visa-free regime with Kosovo, and the alignment of 
visa policy, through the visa suspension mechansim. 

The  Commission  supported  the  agreement  reached  at  the  trilogue,  which  allowed  to  move 
forward on a long-standing proposal of the Commission to include Kosovo in the list of visa 
free-travel and would therefore result in having the whole Western Balkan region covered by 
a visa-free regime when travelling to the EU.  

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission accepts the position taken by the Council.  

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