Kosovo to Lobby for Visa Liberalisation in Austria

The speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Kadri Veseli, accompanied by a delegation of political parties' representatives, is visiting the Austrian capital Vienna on Thursday to lobby for an agreement with the EU on visa liberalisation.

"Assembly speaker Veseli and his Austrian counterpart will discuss inter-state cooperation and Kosovo's European integration process, particularly the visa liberalisation process," said a statement issued by Veseli's office.

But the head of the parliamentary group of Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Avdullah Hoti said that his party is not going to join the "lobbying tour" because it believes that such trips cannot secure visa liberalisation.

"Such travels are unnecessary expenditure of public money and send unclear message to EU countries," Hoti wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

Kosovo newspaper Zeri reported that the list of officials traveling to Vienna has 30 names including Diaspora Minister Dardan Gashi and Finance Minister Bedri Hamza with their teams.

Arton Demhasaj from the NGO Cohu told the Zeri that sending such a large delegation to lobby for visas is senseless.

"This is only a financial cost covered by our taxes. The budget is being misused for such visits and people are travelling only for per diems. There is no other excuse for a delegation of 30 people going to lobby for visas," the newspaper quoted Demhasaj as saying.

He added that Kosovo has ambassadors who are paid to play the role of lobbyists in such situations.

But the parliamentary speaker's office told BIRN that 30 officials are travelling to Vienna because is an economic forum taking place a day later, to which they are invited.

"A day afterwards, the parliament delegation will participate in...