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The European Commission proposed last week to lift the visa regime for citizens of Kosovo holding passports issued by the Coordination Directorate of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia. EU member states in the Council and the European Parliament will need to reach consensus on this issue based on the European Commission’s proposal.
“Kosovo Serbs holding Serbian passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate do not currently benefit from the Serbian visa-free regime with the EU. The EU is committed to ensuring that all citizens of the Western Balkans are included in the EU visa-free regime, provided that the conditions for safe travel are in place,” the spokesperson said. of the EC for the Western Balkans European portal.
Although visas for travel to the EU were waived for Serbia in 2009, this exemption did not apply to passports issued by the Directorate of Coordination, established in 2009. The separation of Serbian passports issued to citizens of Kosovo and to those of central Serbia was one. conditions without which Serbia could not obtain visa liberalization. The solution found at the time was for Kosovo Serb citizens to receive passports from the Coordination Directorate in Belgrade. The status of these “special passports” was not discussed during the visa liberalization process for Kosovo.
The EC’s proposal to allow visa liberalization for these passports, now that Kosovo and Serbia benefit from a visa-free regime, has sparked frustration among parts of the Kosovar population, including the civil society.
More than 20 civil society organizations in Kosovo say the move would pose a significant challenge to the integration of Serbian citizens in Kosovo through the issuance of Kosovar documents, especially with the recent mass provision of Kosovar passports.
In the statement released on Tuesday, the organizations emphasize that the agreements between Kosovo and Serbia recognize the Kosovo authorities as the only legitimate issuers of passports for Kosovo citizens.
The NGO estimated that the European Commission’s proposal comes at a time when there is a multiplication in the number of Serbian citizens seeking to obtain documents issued in Kosovo, taking into account passports and license plates, which, according to them, is a positive and promising development for the return to normality in the north of the country.
A group of Kosovo Serb NGOs expressed disappointment at the letter from Kosovar colleagues recalling that the Coordination Directorate was created at the request of the EC which feared “potential illegal migration” to prohibit the application of the regime of visa exemption for Serbian citizens. Serbian citizens residing or having resided in Kosovo.
They also recalled that Kosovo’s citizenship law allows dual nationality.
“We recall the statements of many international representatives calling for respect for the fact that many citizens of Kosovo, and not only Kosovo Serbs, have dual nationality and should be able to enjoy all the rights and obligations associated with it. This means that they must ‘participate in the social life of Serbia’.”
On the other hand, arguments shared by the Kosovo organization that a visa-free regime for CD passports hinders the integration of Kosovo Serbs are “false and insulting”.
“There will be no more Kosovo Serbs integrated if they have a Kosovo passport than the number of Serbs who already have Kosovo citizenship. Indeed, a passport cannot be obtained without an identity card and proof of citizenship. In other words, a person who obtains a new passport already has citizenship and is therefore already integrated.”
The problems of Kosovo Serbs and other non-majority communities arise long before they become eligible to hold a Kosovo passport, at the time of civil registration, they pointed out.
“There are still people residing in Kosovo who, due to the non-recognition of Serbian civil status documents (birth, death and marriage) as well as the non-recognition of judicial decisions regarding adoption or divorce, cannot register with the Kosovo civil registry. register and become citizens. This is the problem that the Kosovo MIA partially solved in 2018, but not completely. In effect, this means that there are still people who reside permanently in Kosovo but who cannot obtain an identity card and, by extension, a passport,” the statement said.
According to these Kosovo Serb NGOs and media, this is a real obstacle to integration, not the incentives or lack of incentives to obtain a Kosovo passport.
“Initiatives like this, from organizations that have spent nearly a decade raising their voices against the unjust isolation of Kosovo’s citizens, are essentially asking the same thing for a very small number of people who wish to maintain their travel status in Serbia or cannot obtain it. Kosovo citizenship will not help convince the Kosovo Serb community that their rights will be defended in Kosovo, including by organizations that promote human rights, social inclusion and reconciliation.
Integration is a much more nuanced and sensitive process and requires trust-building measures and support from different layers of society. Unfortunately, the reaction of dozens of NGOs shows that the EC’s criticism of the Kosovo government and its failure to communicate with the Kosovo Serb community is also beginning to apply to civil society, they said. concluded.
Kosovo’s Deputy Ombudsman Srđan Sentić said that civil society organizations in Kosovo, which were calling on the European Commission to withdraw the visa liberalization proposal for Serbian passport holders, were encouraging discrimination.
Sentić recalled on Facebook that many Kosovo Serbs working in the civilian sector, including those working in Kosovo institutions, had actively supported visa liberalization for all Kosovo citizens due to the principle of freedom of movement, l one of the guiding principles of the European Union.
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