Spain has not been the exception and since January 1 Kosovars can enter without a visa the 27 countries that make up the Schengen area of free movement. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday that from the first day of the year the ordinary passport of Kosovo will be accepted as valid in Spain, although it was pointed out that this decision "does not change the position of non-recognition" of the former Serbian province as an independent State.
Confirming the opening of external borders validated what was announced late on Saturday by the Kosovar Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, that Spain was recognizing the passports of its nationals. "The good news continues. For our citizens and for the State", he celebrated in a note on his social networks.
January 1st is the date on which Kosovo joined the visa-free regime in the Schengen area, an area of free movement – without internal border controls – that includes 23 of the 27 member countries of the Union European Union (EU) plus the four members of the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
In April the European Parliament confirmed the agreement between Kosovo and the EU for the elimination of visas for short-stay trips – up to 90 days for each 180 period – which means that its citizens can travel through the Schengen area to visit relatives or do business like the rest of the nationals of the Western Balkans region.
With the announcement of the agreement with Kosovo, however, the European Commission warned that Spain would be the only country in the Schengen area that would not apply the foreign exchange liberalization agreement for Kosovo. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, then explained that the policy of non-recognition of the former province of Serbia by Spain entailed the non-recognition of Kosovar passports, a measure "that has been applied in a consistent manner" .
In addition to Spain, there are four other countries in the EU that do not recognize Kosovo: Romania and Cyprus, which do not yet belong to the Schengen area, although the former will be part of it in the coming months, and Greece and Slovakia, which are in Schengen and accept Kosovar passports. And Spain finally accepts them too. "Without this modification, the holders of these passports would have had problems legally visiting the non-recognizing states", indicated from Foreign Affairs.
They also emphasized that there is no change in the official Spanish position on Kosovo. The non-recognition of its sovereignty – declared unilaterally in 2008 by the Parliament of Pristina – and the referral to talks on the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia under the auspices of the EU are maintained.
"Spain favors and will continue to favor the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue as a solution to this situation and wants to minimize its impact on the citizens", points out Exteriors.
