Dear Deputy Prime Ministers,
Minister and Deputy Minister,
Dear citizens,
Last week and this week, every citizen of the Republic has felt more European and closer to Europe.
Visa liberalization had been stalled for four years on the agenda of the EU Council. With a lot of work and commitment, especially in relation to hesitant countries, last year we managed to unlock this process during the Czech Presidency.
Last week on April 18, the European Parliament passed the visa liberalization decision, to be signed the next day on April 19. I want to once again thank Deputy Prime Ministers Besnik Bislimi and Donika Gërvalla, as well as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, and their staffs for their tireless and successful work.
From January 1 next year, our citizens will finally be able to travel without visas to 32 new European countries, including Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus, which are not part of the Schengen area. Our passport will be stronger, just as our country is becoming stronger and stronger.
Meanwhile, this week another important decision was made in the same city, in Strasbourg. On Monday, the day before April 24, the Committee of Ministers, with more than 2/3 of the necessary votes, voted to accept Kosovo’s application for membership. We deeply believe that as a young, democratic and peace-loving state, we will make a valuable contribution in the future as a full member of the Council of Europe. And of course the increasingly better results regarding the three fundamental values of Europe, the rule of law, democracy and human rights have greatly influenced this great achievement.
These two important decisions, in less than a week, confirm our European path. They confirm that we are on the right path and confirm that Kosovo belongs to Europe – as a Union, as a value.
Today we will also examine the Draft Law on the Ratification of the Agreement on the Status and Functions of the International Commission on Missing Persons. This initiative, approved in principle years ago, is being concretized today and is taking the right direction.
The issue of persons forcibly disappeared during the war in Kosovo is a current and permanent issue until its complete solution. Priority topic, which will continue to be addressed as a matter of urgent nature. The approval of this Draft Law today is of special symbolism and also of great importance. Not only due to the fact that we are on the verge of marking April 27 – the Day of Persons Disappeared by Violence during the War in Kosovo, but it is also in the wake of the recently implemented initiatives both in the visa liberalization process and in the membership process in the Council of Europe, and also at the time when the issue of forcibly disappeared persons has taken on a new dynamic within the dialogue between the Republic of Kosovo and Serbia.
Our state, the Government Commission on Missing Persons in the Office of the Prime Minister, already has a long history of cooperation with ICMP. This accession, after the new mandate and status that ICMP has received in recent years, will be an increase of this cooperation at this important stage of the process, at the same time it will also be an opportunity that I presented some time ago during the meeting with our forensic experts on the willingness to engage and contribute to the illumination of the truth as in the cases of other wars outside our country, such as the one in Ukraine recently, but also other foci around the world. Our institutional and professional capacities, through engagement as ICMP members, will be at the service of all countries and states that have gone through similar tragedies of war, thus we will be at the service of peace and at the service of addressing processes of dealing with the past everywhere.
Thank you!
Last modified: April 26, 2023