Visa liberalisation would encourage Serbs to equip Kosovo passports

On Wednesday of July 18th, the European Commission approved the recommendation to allow Kosovo citizens to move freely to the Schengen area, which is due to pass to the European Parliament and in autumn to be given the final decision at the Council of the European Union. This decision was hosted by Kosovo citizens as déjà-vu in May 2016, they celebrated a similar recommendation. But then they dedicated themselves to defining the border with Montenegro, which was delayed for a long time. That is why Kosovo citizens are more careful this time. It cannot be ruled out for the recommendation to be conditional on the establishment of the Serbian Communist Association.

Positive News for Kosovo Serbs

For Kosovo Serbs, news of possible visa liberalisation for Kosovo is generally positive, even though this topic has been ignored in private discours as well as in public. It is important to say that Serbian citizens who are registered in Kosovo have two passports, including from Serbia issued by the Co-ordination Board. But they can't travel without visas. It was one of the conditions for visa liberalisation for Serbia in August 2009. This condition from the European Commission explains the “potential for illegal migration” and the inability of the Serbian state to ensure the authenticity of data in these travel documents.

So Kosovo Serbs now have three types of passports: The first type, that biometric released in Rajo in August 2009; Second; those released by the Co-ordination Board after August 2009; Third; normal Serbian passports received by false records as residents in Serbia. Since the establishment of the Co-ordination Board until July 2016, this body has issued 97,809 passports. There is also a fourth kind of passport, the Kosovo one, from which there is still very little.

Balkans' most isolated group

For these few Serbs with Kosovo passports, liberalisation will facilitate travel. For those who have a normal Serbian passport, nothing changes, they can also travel freely. But those who only have passports from the Co-ordination Board will remain the most isolated group in the Balkans, as no one mentions visa liberalisation for their documents.

From the Serb community in Kosovo many think visa liberalisation will pave the way for youth migration, where right-wing parties hope to reduce social pressure on the one hand and weaken parties like Vetevendosje. However, an increase in youth migration from the Serb community is equally real.

In the absence of relevant data for the number of Serbs in Kosovo it is very impossible to make a fair assessment, however, given annual public opinion polls and data from the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs, it could be said that the percentage of Serbs possessing Kosovo's identification in the four Serb majority northern municipalities is between 65 and 75 % .

Serbs' difficulties without Kosovo documents

Among those who do not have Kosovo documents are people who either have not had the need for documents or are still struggling with emotional and moral dilemmas for obtaining Kosovo's citizenship. But there are also those who are fully hampered by receiving Kosovo's citizenship, so they can receive Kosovo's ID and passport. Citizens remain blocked by the bureaucratic system, where birth certificates, marriage and death issued after June 1999. And Sporadically, the lists issued by hospitals operating according to the Serbian system are rejected.

So a person who has a Serbian document and lives in Kosovo and who cannot obtain Kosovo documents is de facto without citizenship while living on Kosovo territory. These people cannot open bank accounts, they can't be employed in Kosovo institutions, they can't move abroad except in Serbia, but not in Albania, Macedonia or in Montenegro, and more importantly, they can't register their property. The government for resolving this problem declares only pompous decisions, as in the March of last year, which has not made any difference, remains to be seen as the initiative started this month.

However, at least physical access to Kosovo documents is easier since December of last year, where local registration offices have been established in four northern Kosovo municipalities. Thus, citizens of this section do not need to travel to the Albanian majority to make document applications.

Possible visa-free movement -- impulse for Serbs to get Kosovo documents

If the visa-free movement becomes possible with Kosovo passports, it would be a strong reason for most Serbs to register as citizens of Kosovo. But then they will first have to face the problem facing many citizens, who have largely been denied the right to documents and to obtain Kosovo citizenship. This problem mainly affects Serbs and Roma, but also other minority communities in Kosovo, which shows that reforms coming from the EU are not necessarily effective because there are problems still in the population registration process.

On the other hand, the Kosovo Ombudsman's annual report is described in detail the problems in population registration. The approach to obtaining documents is also one of the topics in the US State Department's Human Rights Report. The European Commission appears to see no problem, saying visa liberalisation is more political than technical process and as such serves the interests of stability. Citizens with normal passports are only lucky that after twenty years their interests match EU interests in this case.

Milica Andric, 1991, is a researcher in the JINK non-governmental organisation from North Mitrovica. It deals mainly with laws and policies that have particular impact on minority communities in Kosovo. /DW/.