„We regret today’s vote in LIBE, which does not reflect the reality of the right to visa-free travel for citizens from the Serb community“ – the advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo and chief negotiator, Klisman Kadiu, said in response to yesterday’s news that the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament recommended to the European Parliament and the European Council to adopt the report made by the rapporteur for the abolition of visas for Kosovo citizens with Serbian passports, Matjaž Nemec.
The decision was passed yesterday by a majority vote of LIBA members. A total of 34 out of 53 deputies present voted for the abolition of visas for passport holders issued by the Coordination Administration of Serbia, seven deputies were against it, and 12 abstained.
European Parliament rapporteur Matjaž Nemec hailed the decision „which paves the way toward the abolition of the visa regime for the last category of citizens in the Western Balkans.“
„This decision entails the equal treatment, for which we in the parliament are constantly advocating, and it extends the right to visa-free travel to include Serbian residents from Kosovo as well,“ Nemec said, while also warning that „several parties sought to politicize this issue, which is essentially technical“.
„This year, they lost the rights to which all other citizens of the Western Balkans have, which can signify discrimination. But we must not and cannot agree to that because it is a problem essentially made by Europe. Therefore, Europe is obliged to remove it. That’s why I support and welcome the decision.“
Serbs welcome the fact that visa liberalization for Serbian citizens of Kosovo is on the horizon. Some, however, expressed opposition – so did Klisman Kadiu, the advisor to the Kosovo deputy PM.
„Our citizens from the Serb community are not isolated, nor are they the only community that cannot travel to Europe,“ he claims, arguing that they can use Kosovo passports for such travels.
„Our citizens from the Serb community still receive documents from our country and there is great interest for them. And we continue to call on citizens to obtain them, so that they can exercise their right to free movement after our country has been granted visa liberalization,“ he said, adding that they are ready to meet „their demands“ with full capacity.
By these “demands,” Kadiu meant the demand for the provision of Kosovo passports, as he described the passports issued by Serbia as “illegal”.
„We repeat that illegal passports issued by Serbia violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Kosovo, and therefore cannot be recognized or be a valid travel document.“
Kadiu interprets the fact that the EU is now striving to make Serbian passports issued by the Coordination Administration visa-free for the Schengen area as well in the following manner:
„Such stance risks creating a dangerous precedent, when a little over a year ago, similar attempts to recognize Russian travel documents issued in Ukraine and Georgia were condemned and rejected by the EU institutions themselves. The postponement of this proposal has a negative impact on the integration of the Serb community in Kosovo, but on the dialogue process as well. From the moment when this proposal was started by the European Commission, we incessantly informed all EU institutions about the consequences and negative effects of such a decision.“
In early March, the Slovenian member of the European Parliament, Matjaž Nemec, was appointed as the rapporteur for the abolition of visas for passports issued by the Republic of Serbia for citizens in Kosovo (passports of Coordination Administration) – the only citizens from the Western Balkans who need a visa to travel to EU countries.
After the visa-free regime for holders of Kosovo passports was approved as of January 1 of this year, the European Commission proposed on November 16 of last year to abolish visas for Serbian citizens in Kosovo who have passports issued by the Coordination Administration of the Republic of Serbia, also starting from the beginning of this year.
This news triggered an avalanche of reactions among the Kosovo public.
The controversy surrounding the proposal of the European Commission that the passports of the Coordination Administration, which are issued by the MIA of the Republic of Serbia for citizens in and from Kosovo, enter the visa-free regime from the beginning of the year, was met with the different interpretations of Serbian and Albanian civil societies in Kosovo in November last year.
After the initial criticism of the news by the Albanian civil sector from Kosovo – which sent a letter to the EU with a request to withdraw it, Serbian NGOs from Kosovo also reacted strongly.
While some believe that the proposal made last week by the European Commission for these passports is illegitimate because „only Kosovo authorities are legitimate for citizens in Kosovo“, and that the integration of Serbs into the Kosovo system is thus being harmed, others claim that such comments of their fellow colleagues are false and offensive.
Repeatedly pointing out that Serbs are now the only Europeans who need a passport to travel, Serbian NGOs also reminded that Serbs, like other citizens in Kosovo, have the right to dual citizenship.
Top Kosovo officials also rejected the proposal. The Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, Klisman Kadiu’s superior, also raised this issue in a meeting with the EU envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajčak, who came to Pristina to discuss the dinar issue.
It is also the belief of the part of the public that the outcry in Pristina is the reason why the issue of the passport of the Coordination Administration within the European structures has yet to be resolved.
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