Joint statement by European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos and Kosovo Minister of Internal Affairs Skënder Hyseni and Minister of European Integration Bekim Çollaku.

Our discussions focused specifically on tightening the licenses of travel companies transporting travellers to the EU, informing the public of the rights and obligations stemming from entry to the Schengen area, enhancing border controls, and ensuring the return and successful reintegration into society of irregular migrants to the European Union. We also discussed ways to enhance operational cooperation and information exchange with Serbian, Hungarian, Austrian and German authorities as well as Frontex. We also discussed more generally the state of play in implementation of the requirements of the visa liberalisation roadmap for Kosovo.

The European Commission is expecting a report by the Kosovo institutions outlining the implementation of the recommendations outlined in the Commission’s second evaluation report on the visa liberalisation roadmap with Kosovo. Our meetings today are part of a larger, on-going dialogue at the technical and political levels to assess the work that has to be done in this area – and we look forward to continuing this constructive cooperation.