Kosovo Wants EU Visa Deal Before Serbia Talks

A Kosovo government source told Balkan Insight that talks with Serbia must include something for Kosovo in the form of EU visa liberalisation, adding that only Belgrade would benefit from a hasty start to the much anticipated talks.

"The European Commission should deliver its strategy on visa liberalisation to Kosovo," the official told Balkan Insight, speaking anonymously.

"The Serbian government cannot wait any longer [for talks] because they want to move forward with their plans," the source added.
Kosovo had been expecting to receive a "road map" leading towards visa liberalisation this autumn, as its neighbours, Albania and Bosnia, join the visa-free zone.

But the starting date has been set back by political concerns in Western countries, partly caused by the arrival of thousands of ethnic Albanian asylum-seekers after the EU lifted visa restrictions on Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia in January.

There have also been technical problems with Kosovo accepting back Albanians returned from Western Europe.

A dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, it is hoped, could end uncertainty over Kosovo’s future, which has continued since the former Serbian province declared its independence in 2008 .

A Serbian news agency, Press Online, reported on Wednesday that the EU had suggested talks start one week after the December 12 general elections in Kosovo.

Kosovo's government has ruled out sticking to such a narrow time frame.

Bekim Collaku, political advisor to Kosovo's Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, said the Serbian report was pure speculation and the date for the talks was still unknown.

“There will be no date before the general elections are over in Kosovo and before the new government is in place," Collaku told Balkan Insight.

He denied reports that Thaci had appointed him to lead the talks with Serbia, as some Belgrade media reported.

"I am part of the [the government's] political staff so I can't be nominated to run talks with Serbia since those talks are of a technical nature," Collaku told Balkan Insight.

He said that the “technical talks” would start with the issue of missing persons.

"There will be no talks on political issues like territorial integrity or special autonomy for the north," Collaku added, referring to the Serb-controlled northern sliver of Kosovo.

The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, called for talks between Kosovo and Serbia after the International Court of Justice, ICJ, opinion issued an advisory opinion on Kosovo in July. To Serbia's disappointment, this declared that Kosovo's independence did not violate international law.