Kosovo’s Rule-of-Law Troubles Stall Visa-Free Travel

After the recent parliamentary ratification of Kosovo’s border demarcation agreement with Montenegro, there is only one more obstacle standing between Kosovo citizens and visa-free travel to EU countries –their judiciary's track record in fighting corruption and organised crime.

But improving Kosovo's poor rule-of-law track record will be tough, and the issue threatens to delay the hoped-for EU visa-free regime for the foreseeable future.

In an attempt to fix the problem, Kosovo's judiciary has earmarked 43 important cases of organised crime or corruption to act as a barometer of progress in this area; once all these cases have been dealt with, it believes that the country should finally have done enough to fulfil the EU's conditions for visa liberalisation.