The timing of the visit was crucial as the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the EU and Kosovo came into force on 1 April, while yesterday the European Commission proposed to the Council and the European Parliament to lift visa requirements for the people of Kosovo.
Speaking at a press conference with Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Stavros Avramopoulos, Federica Mogherini referred to recent positive developments: "It's great to be here to share the celebrations for something that is really important, and that we have wanted so much, that is a result of so much hard common work we have done", she underlined.
On the Association Agreement and Visa issue Mogherini said: "We have done a great step that was very much awaited for by Kosovars and that has also not only practical consequences that are positive, but also very symbolic and political meaning. And that meaning stays in one sentence which is Kosovo is Europe, and what we are working on is the European integration of Kosovo in the European Union. Step by step, a long way, a difficult way, in some cases complicated, but what we are talking about is this."
Mogherini went on to emphasise the European aspect of Kosovo: "When we say European perspective for Kosovo, we start from the basic principle that no one that knows geography and history can deny and that Kosovo is at the heart of our continent and we are together in so many things."
She also said a long road lay ahead and it was important to make progress on the normalisation of relations between Pristina and Belgrade.
