Croatian member of the European Parliament Tonino Picula, who serves as the EP rapporteur for recommendations on the Western Balkans, on Thursday informed the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs of his draft of recommendations for enlargement to the Western Balkans.

The draft proposes the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania soon, and liberalisation of the visa regime for Kosovo citizens.

Also, the Western Balkan aspirants are supposed to step up the prosecution of war crimes and the resolution of the issue of persons who went missing during the wars in the 1990s.

The European Parliament proposes that decisions on accession-related issues be made by a qualified majority, while unanimous decisions should be required when the Council of the EU okays the opening and closing of accession negotiations.

Picula’s report is expected to be put on the European Parliament agenda in time to for adoption at a plenary meeting in April.

The draft recommendations will be sent to to the Council, the Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the Western Balkans, in the run-up to the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Zagreb in May.