* EU to start talks on visa free travel and trade * EU members that have not recognised Kosovo support move By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The European Commission has proposed negotiating visa-free travel and a trade agreement with Kosovo even though five EU countries have not recognised its independence. "The absence of an agreed position on Kosovo's status does not prevent the EU from substantial engagement with Kosovo," says a study document presented by the European Commission in Brussels and Pristina on Wednesday on Kosovo's EU future. "We propose to start a visa dialogue with Kosovo with the perspective of visa liberalisation when the conditions will be fulfilled," Pierre Mirel, the head of European Commission for Western Balkans said in Pristina. "We also propose to start preparing for a trade agreement." Mirel has urged Kosovo authorities to undertake the necessary technical reforms to make the Commission's proposals work. The citizens of neighbouring Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro will travel to EU countries without visas from January 2010. Bosnia and Albania hope to do this by the middle of next year. Kosovo's path towards joining the 27-bloc is not clear because five countries - Spain, Romania, Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia - have not recognised its statehood. Mirel said the new agenda for Kosovo was supported by the five countries. Kosovo is recognised by 62 world states but not by its former master Serbia as well as Russia and China. Kosovo's government saluted the decision on visas and trade. "From today there is a new area for relations between the EU and the Republic of Kosovo," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told a news conference. "From now, Kosovo has a very clear perspective towards the EU." In a separate, 2009 Progress Report, the Commission urged Kosovo to do more to reform its judiciary, fight corruption and organised crime. "The weak rule of law, widespread corruption, and uncertainty over property rights continued to be major impediments to economic development," it said. A 40 percent unemployment rate has remained unchanged since 2008. Around 30,000 young people enter the job market every year and many of them continue to leave the country and find work abroad, says the report. One of the main challenges is to encourage the participation of Kosovo Serbs in public life and local elections scheduled for next month. Some 120,000 remaining Kosovo Serbs, backed by Belgrade, refuse to cooperate with Pristina institutions. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost ten years after NATO bombing drove out Serb forces to stop the killing of Albanians in a two-year counter-insurgency war. The bloc's largest EU mission, the EU police and justice mission (EULEX), with 2,000 police customs, officers, judges and prosecutors, helps and monitors local institutions. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci, editing by Philippa Fletcher)
An employee of the Albanian Mine Action Executive project trains in the north eastern of Kukes district, some 150 km (93 miles) from Tirana October 7, 2009. Hundreds of Albanians were ...
