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Kosovo passports for Serbs, a matter of integration or choice?!

2023-11-29 08:59:17Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Kosovo passports for Serbs, a matter of integration or choice?!

Filipi from North Mitrovica believes that the Government of Kosovo, "for political reasons", has asked the European Commission not to allow the liberalization of visas for the passports of the Coordinating Administration, issued by Serbia.

“I don't think they have any [other] reason to oppose it; it's a positive thing", he says to Radio Free Europe.

Members of the Serbian community in Kosovo have the right to Serbian citizenship and with it, the right to have a passport of both Kosovo and Serbia.

However, Filipi only has the passport of the Coordinating Administration and says that he did not want to get the Kosovo one, because he hopes that he will be able to travel without visas even with the Serbian passport. Citizens of Kosovo will be able to travel visa-free to European countries - known as the Schengen area - from January 1 next year. Serbia won visa liberalization in 2009, but with the condition that it does not apply to holders of passports that it issues to citizens residing in Kosovo.

Does the proposal of the European Commission harm the integration of Serbs?

After the European Commission warned in April of this year that visa liberalization, approved for Kosovo, applies only to holders of Kosovo passports, the same body - in mid-November - gave the recommendation to lift visas for holders of Administration passports as well Coordinating, which functions within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia.

The Government of Kosovo then expressed its "concern" about such a proposal without prior consultation or notification. Official Prishtina does not recognize the Serbian passports of the Coordinating Administration, because it considers it an illegal institution. "The recognition of these documents undermines the integration of the Serbian community, harms our long-term efforts [for the integration of Serbs]," Kosovo's deputy prime minister, Besnik Bislimi, wrote in a post on his Facebook account on November 21. He also said that members of the Serbian community with Kosovo passports will be able to move freely in the Schengen area.

On November 24, the European Commission did not specifically answer Radio Free Europe's questions regarding the Kosovo Government's remarks, but said it would. Petri from Graçanica - a municipality with a Serbian majority near Pristina - has both a Kosovar and a Serbian passport. He believes that receiving any document from Kosovo does not mean essential integration into the system or society of Kosovo, but that, according to him, it has to do with "practical reasons" or "impossibility of choice". "People should have choices and equal opportunities. The government of Kosovo should make an effort to integrate the Serbs by offering better quality of life, not by blackmail or by limiting the elections", says Petri for Radio Free Europe.

Based on the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, which were provided to REL at the end of October, the requests for Kosovo passports in the Serbian communities have increased during this year. There was special interest in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo. For example, in the period from January 1, 2023 to July 30, 2023, the number of Kosovo passport applications has increased by 97 percent in Leposavic. The Albanian civil sector and the Serbian civil sector in Kosovo have completely opposite views on this issue.

Ehat Miftaraj, director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, believes that the provision of passports is directly related to the integration of Kosovo Serbs into the Kosovar society and system, and says that this is a standard that applies in all democratic states. "It is a value and a principle that must be protected and implemented", says Miftaraj for Radio Free Europe. Obtaining citizenship of a country, he adds, enables citizens to exercise their rights, such as the right to vote. "This connection between the state and the citizens creates a sense of mutual interest, or more precisely, a deep sense of connection between the citizens and the state itself", says Miftaraj.

But Jovana Radosavlevič, director of the New Social Initiative, says that "having a certain passport does not mean integration". "I have to emphasize that the big problem we face is the politicization of the issue of free movement of people. Citizens of Kosovo have the right to dual citizenship - they can get a passport, but they don't have to. Similarly, if someone is also a citizen of Serbia, he can get both passports, he can get either one, or in the end neither", says Radosavlević for REL. She also recalls that the Albanian civil sector was the first to oppose the EC's proposal to remove visas for passports issued by the Coordinating Administration and considers that something like this is "disturbing".

The issue of Serbian passports "divides" the civil sector

On November 21, a group of about 20 non-governmental organizations from the Albanian community, including the Kosovo Institute for Justice, estimated that the removal of visas for the passports of the Coordinating Administration would harm the integration process of Serbs, especially those living in the north of Kosovo. The group stressed that if the proposal is approved, it will severely damage the purpose and implementation of the Agreement for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which the two countries agreed on at the end of February this year.

On this occasion, emphasis was placed on the point of the Agreement regarding the respect of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of both parties. A few hours later, he reacted to the Serbian civil sector in Kosovo, considering the attitude of his colleagues from the Albanian community as "insulting". According to him, receiving Kosovo passports does not in any way mean the integration of Serbs into the Kosovar society and system.

"No Kosovo Serb will integrate more if he is given a Kosovo passport... This stems from the fact that a passport cannot be obtained without an identity card and proof of citizenship.

In other words, a person who receives a new passport already has citizenship and thus is integrated", says the reaction signed by about 15 organizations, among them the New Social Initiative.

Another open reaction from both sides followed on November 24, while a joint meeting was called for this week, in which the Albanian and Serbian civil sectors will discuss the controversial issues.

Is the Coordinating Administration a parallel institution?

The Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, called on the EU to treat the documents issued by Serbia for the citizens of Kosovo as illegal. Jovana Radosavlević, from the New Social Initiative, says that the EC should conclude whether the Coordinating Administration is an illegal institution or not, but underlines that, currently, it is the only body that can issue passports to Serbian citizens living in Kosovo , or for displaced persons from Kosovo.

"If this body were to be abolished, these citizens would be deprived of their rights, in the sense that they would not be able to travel, even though this passport [issued by the Coordinating Administration] still requires a visa," she says.

But, Ehat Miftaraj, from the Kosovo Institute for Justice, says that the Coordinating Administration is an illegal mechanism and that it is contrary to the Constitution of Kosovo. "The mistake or improper practice of the European Commission in 2009 cannot be legitimized and legalized. This mechanism, which the European Commission has accepted as a political solution, cannot be accepted and should not be legitimized in 2023", says Miftaraj.

He adds that the Coordinating Administration for issuing passports to citizens living in Kosovo exists because the EU has not forced Serbia to recognize Kosovo and offer a practical solution without violating the Constitution of Kosovo.

In 2009, Serbia formed the Coordinating Administration as a body of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the issuance of passports to citizens residing in Kosovo. This, in fact, has been a condition of the EU for Serbia to receive visa liberalization, with the explanation that, otherwise, there are security risks related especially to illegal migration.

Until then, Serbian passports were issued by the police directorates for the cities of Kosovo, such as the one in Pristina, Ferizaj, Peja and so on. These police administrations are not mentioned in the passports of the Coordinating Administration, but it is only stated that the document was issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia./ REL


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