Another 10 days of deadline for Serbs to get Kosovo drivers' license, police: Then we will tolerate

If they don't do that until August 9th, and police stop them during the drive, they will be considered running the car without a driver's license, Kosovo Police officials have said in some responses. Radio Free Europe (REL).

Police officials stress that, in line with the decisions of the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs, fines will be pronounced against these individuals, with the possibility of car seizures.

The amount of fines, by law, is between 500 and 1,500 euros.

Kosovo authorities do not recognise the documents issued by Serbia for Kosovo cities.

However, in some cases those “tolerated”, because the process of integrating Serbs into the Kosovo system is not complete.

On the other hand, Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's independence, declared in 2008, and has never stopped issuing documents for Kosovo territory.

Serbian authorities issue these documents from various Serbian cities.

Within the dialogue on normalising relations, which is mediated by the European Union, the two sides have reached agreement on recognising personal documents, but it is not clear what will happen to the documents issued by Serbia for Serbs living in Kosovo.

Therefore, parties often interpret the Brussels agreement differently.

What will happen after the deadline?

Kosovo Police Deputy Director for the Northern Region Veton Elshani has told REL that Kosovo Police will not reduce “toleration” to the patents given to Kosovo Serbs after the deadline for their Kosovo patent equipment.

He shows that in that case, an individual will be fined for failing to possess a driver's license.

After the pronunciation of such a fine, the car must be run by someone with a driver's license. If [the owner of the car] doesn't have someone else to drive away, it should be parked somewhere immediately, or we will seize”, Elshani says.

What is the procedure for obtaining Kosovo's driver's license?

On May 7th, the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs has made the decision to allow citizens of the Serb community to convert Serbian drivers' licenses with those issued by Kosovo authorities.

The decision has entered into force two days later, on May 9th, and will be implemented until August 9th, 2024.

For obtaining a Kosovo driver's license, no driving tests should be subjected.

All they need is:

• Kosovo ID,
• Original driver license issued by Serbian authorities, and
• a certificate of medical control.

How many drivers have been replaced?

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said on July 27th that around 4,000 Serbs from Kosovo have submitted calls for converting their drivers, issued by Serbia, with those of Kosovo.

This figure consists mainly of Serbs from northern Kosovo, because those south of the Ibër patent drivers of Kosovo have taken them about 10 years ago.

“invites all those who have not yet applied for a convert to the driver's license to seize this opportunity, which is offered in all municipalities by August 9th. I thank citizens for their continued cooperation with our 48x1> institutions, Kurt said through a Facebook post.

Kosovo's patent equipment process has preceded the process of reregistering cars with Serbian license plates on RKS (Republish of Kosovo), especially for those with KM (Kosovo's Mitrovica).

The process of reregistering the vehicles, which has lasted from the end of 2022 to mid-December 2023, has sparked a series of crises in northern Kosovo: the exit of Serbs from Kosovo institutions, protests, barricades, boycott of elections, and all culminated in an armed attack by an organised group of Serbs against the Kosovo Police.

However, today, in the four majority Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo, northern Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zvecan and Zubin Potok ) cannot be seen KM plates, with which an estimated 10,000 vehicles were estimated.

According to Kosovo Interior Ministry data, about 4,000 cars have converted KM plates into RKS, while the rest have registered their cars in cities of Serbia.

Thus, individuals who have cars with BG (Belgrade), KG (Kraguyevc), RA (Rashka) and other license plates registered in Serbia's cities drive cars in Kosovo with authorization, because their settlement is in Kosovo.

With what driver's license can a car be run with authorization?

Veton Elshani of Kosovo Police has seen the problem of driving Serbia's (BG, KG, RA) car in Kosovo, and has said the Ministry of Internal Affairs is working on finding a solution.

Until then, according to Elshani, even owners of these cars will be able to drive a vehicle with Kosovar and non-Serb drivers, released by Serbian authorities for Kosovo cities.

“no measures will be taken for those who, for example, drive with BG plates and show Kosovo driver's license”, he points out.

He adds that, under the law, such a thing is actually not possible, but that Kosovo authorities are trying to find a solution to this problem.

In Serbia, such authorisations are issued on the basis of ID and driver's license.

This means that Serbs from Kosovo, who have not changed residence in the Serbian system, and drive a Serbian city's license plates, have authorisations that Serbia releases for Kosovo cities.

This identification is that the Kosovo authorities accept.

In this case, Kosovo authorities, for the time being, accept Serbian authorisation, but not ID or driver license issued by Serbian authorities.