The Czech Republic, during its presidency of the EU Council, wants to focus on the agenda for the Western Balkans, such as visa liberalization for Kosovo, reports Euractive.

In an interview with Euractive Czech Republic, the Czech ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivana Hlavsova, highlighted several ideas that the Czech EU presidency has regarding the Western Balkans. One of them is visa liberalization for Kosovo.

"This country was given conditions and fulfilled them several years ago, as confirmed by the then European Commission. However, the visa requirement has not yet been removed. This is a clear issue for us and we will try to move it forward as much as we can," said Hlavsova.

In addition to this, as Euractiv writes, the rest of the Czech Republic's plans are already taking shape, with France finding a way to unblock the dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, paving the way for the start of negotiations on the bloc's expansion.

Bilateral disputes are something the Czech Republic wants to eliminate from the EU enlargement process, Hlavsova said.

"There are so many bilateral disputes in the Western Balkans that it could effectively and completely stop the enlargement process. Therefore, we constantly say - solve your bilateral problems among yourselves", said the diplomat.

Regarding "her" country, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hlavsova indicated that the ball is now in Sarajevo's court.

"Bosnia applied for membership in 2016, and in 2019 the European Commission made an assessment of its readiness, giving the country 14 key tasks to start accession negotiations. The expectations are that at least some of them will have to be fulfilled in order to get candidate status," explained Hlavsova.

According to her, several minor changes have been achieved, but no substantial progress has been achieved due to the complicated internal political situation.