European Parliament puts SAA with Kosovo on agenda for Jan 21

By bne IntelliNews January 18, 2016

The European Parliament said it has put the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between the European Union and Kosovo on the agenda in a plenary session scheduled for January 21.

The SAA with Kosovo was signed on October 27, 2015, in Strasbourg and was ratified by the parliament in Pristina in November. Only with the approval of the European Parliament will the SAA with Kosovo become effective, broadcaster RTK said on January 18. The agreement will not need to be individually ratified by each member state.

The vote in the European Parliament is expected to pass without any problems, since the EU institutions have been in favour of such an agreement with Kosovo, the article said.

The Kosovan government said on December 16 that it has approved the National Programme for the Implementation of the SAA with the EU, with the programme consisting of three main elements: the political criteria, economic criteria and European standards or alignment of Kosovo's legislation with the EU acquis.

In addition, Kosovo expects to obtain a recommendation for EU visa free travel for its citizens, after meeting the last eight benchmarks as recommended by the European Commission in December 2015.

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