Spain, the only Schengen Area county to retain visa requirements for Kosovo citizens after 1 January, eventually scrapped its decision so they can freely enter Spain as well as the remaining 26 Schengen member states, Spain's El Pais newspaper reported on Monday. Pročitaj više

A week ago, all Schengen countries abolished visa requirements for Kosovo's 1.8 million citizens except, until now, Spain, which does not recognise Kosovo's independence.

“The good news just keeps going,” Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi has posted on Facebook. “Spain now also recognizes the passports of the Republic of Kosovo. So we can travel without visa to this country.”

Kosovo citizens may stay in Schengen countries without a visa for 90 days over a period of 180 days.

Five EU member states – Spain, Romania, Cyprus, Slovakia and Greece – have not recognised Kosovo's independence, but Schengen members Slovakia and Greece allowed visa-free travel for Kosovo citizens as of 1 January.

An unnamed Spanish Foreign Ministry source told El Pais the recognition of Kosovo passports did not mean the recognition of Kosovo's independence.

If we hadn't done that, the bearers of those passports would have had legal problems when visiting the countries which don't recognise Kosovo, the source said.

A Kosovo citizen could enter any other Schengen country, Croatia for instance, without a visa and then Spain without any further passport check. In Spain, they would have been in trouble if they were stopped by police or had to check into a hotel with the passport.

Spain advocates and will continue to advocate the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue as a way of solving that issue and is trying to minimise its impact on citizens, the source said.

Spain has made the recognition of Kosovo conditional on Kosovo's normalisation agreement with Serbia, but has not opposed Kosovo's EU integration.

Last March, the European Council approved visa-free travel for Kosovo citizens and the European Parliament confirmed this measure in April. Kosovo was the last Western Balkan country whose citizens needed a visa to enter the Schengen Area.