January 8 (SeeNews) - Spain has started recognising passports from Kosovo after nationals from the Balkan state were allowed to travel to Europe's borderless Schengen zone visa-free at the beginning of 2024, Kosovo’s foreign minister Donike Gervalla-Schwarz said.
The change, however, does not mean that Spain officially recognises Kosovo as an independent state in any way, Gervalla posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, last week.
Spain, along with Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, does not recognise Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and seeks EU membership. The state has been recognised by the other 22 EU member states.
The announcement is somewhat unexpected, given that Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares had declared in April of last year that Spain would refuse to accept Kosovo passports, despite the visa regime liberalisation.
Before the EU visa exemption, Kosovo, with a population of 1.8 million, was the only country in the Western Balkans where citizens still required visas to travel to the EU.