The European Union has introduced a visa-free regime with Kosovo

On Monday, January 1, a law allowing citizens of the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo to cross the border of the European Union without a visa came into force , Reuters reports .

Under the new rules, Kosovars can stay in the EU for up to 90 days, after which they will have to leave for at least that long.

The country's government considers the introduction of a visa-free regime as the next step towards full admission of Kosovo to the European Union. However, visa-free regime with Kosovo was not supported by the five EU members - Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain - which still consider the country a part of Serbia. They fear that this decision will lead to a new wave of migration.

On January 1, at the airport of Pristina, the country's president Albin Kurti met the first Kosovars flying to the EU without a visa and called on his compatriots not to abuse the freedom of movement and not to use the visa-free regime to find a job in the EU.

Kosova became independent from Serbia in 2008. However, Serbia has not yet become a member of the UN due to objections from Russia and China. Today, this country is recognized by more than 110 countries. 95.6 percent of the population of over 1.8 million are Muslims. The main population consists of Albanians, Serbs, Jews and others.