Confusion, fear, and suppressed anger – this is how the current situation among drivers in North Kosovo can be summed up. Torn between what Serbia says and what is happening to them on the ground, their license plates are actually a vital issue, but have been a stumbling block for more than a year. In addition to the numerous problems they have faced, from barricades and closures of crossings to central Serbia, through the abandonment of institutions, new elections, they have reached a point where their cars with KM license plates are practically useless. For now, they can only drive within North Kosovo or within Serbia. However, they can only cross Jarinje and Brnjak in one direction – towards Serbia, without the possibility of returning via the crossings. At the same time, they are worried that the previously determined deadline for (re)registration with facilitations expires tomorrow.
The ‘booklet’ of problems
The issue of license plates issued by the Republic of Serbia for cities in Kosovo (KM, ĐA, PR, PE, PZ, GL, and UR), which Pristina considers illegal, began to be raised back in September 2021, after the expiration of the second five-year extension of the Brussels Agreement on freedom of movement concerning KS license plates. This led to a 13-day crisis at the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings.
The Kosovo government then actually made a decision to introduce reciprocity, introducing temporary license plates for cars with Serbian registration.
They did not even have time to implement this decision, as the Serbs set up barricades at the crossings, while members of the Kosovo Special Police were stationed nearby.
The crisis was resolved by a temporary agreement on the application of a sticker regime for license plates, which is still in force for both Serbian plates in Kosovo and Kosovo plates in Serbia.
However, tensions continued, and at the end of July 2022, just before the implementation of the new Kosovo government decision on (re)registration or replacement of Serbian license plates with city markings in Kosovo – with RKS plates.
In an attempt to calm these tensions, the international community managed to intervene twice in the postponement of these decisions.
Three days before the new deadline (October 31), the Kosovo government then issued a new decision on (re)registration – to implement it in phases. The plan was for their decision to remove Serbian license plates to be implemented until April 21st, 2023 – starting with warnings, through fines, temporary license plates, and finally complete removal.
Facilitations for obtaining RKS were then limited until March 31st.
As the second phase of implementing the decision, fining drivers who have not taken RKS license plates approached, Serbian officials left the Kosovo Police in the North at the beginning of November, refusing to punish their fellow citizens.
In the face of new tensions, the international community summoned Kosovo and Serbian leaders to Brussels. It was only on the eve of the implementation of this second phase of the decision, the punishment of drivers, on November 23rd, that a new agreement was reached.
Pristina has committed not to implement the decision on (re)registration in phases, and Belgrade has committed not to issue new license plates for Serbian cities in Kosovo.
On December 6th, Belgrade issued a decree by the Government of Serbia on special conditions for the validity of license plates with Serbian city markings in Kosovo, confirming that the Serbian Ministry of Interior will now officially cease issue new license plates for cities in Kosovo.
However, the decree also stated that new registration stickers would not be issued either, but that the validity of the old ones would be extended. According to this decree, citizens were able to undergo technical inspections and take out insurance, which would be sufficient proof for driving.
The lack of specification in the decree on which territory vehicles with extended registration stickers, technical inspection certificates, and which insurance policies could be used, and the lack of information on whether they would be allowed to cross administrative borders and travel in Kosovo and the region’s countries, all cause confusion among citizens.
Despite assurances from the Serbian Government that vehicles with such plates could move “as before,” on the ground, however, it turned out that their concern was justified.
Those whose Serbian registration expired after the November 23rd agreement were warned at the crossings to central Serbia that they would not be able to return because the Kosovo police do not accept technical inspections and insurance policies as valid documentation for crossing the integrated border.
However, another obstacle emerged on the ground. According to numerous drivers’ testimonies, they drive such vehicles in the north with risk and fear that the Kosovo police could sanction them.
Their concern is further heightened by the months-long conspicuously visible deployment of special units, the establishment of checkpoints on roads, and the mass departure of Serbs from the Kosovo police force.
“The Serbian government can play with its decisions, but vehicles with ‘illegal’ plates are not allowed to enter Kosovo,” said Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, announcing that a car driven within Kosovo without valid registration would be confiscated and the driver fined 150 euros.
Since the Serbian government’s decree on December 6th, on the other hand, regarding the problems Serbs in Kosovo face on the ground with license plates and when arriving at crossings, neither the Serbian side nor local Serbian officials have spoken out.
What’s next?
Faced with all these problems, citizens whose registration expired after November 23rd are still lacking information and guidance: What’s next?
When we asked citizens of the North in June whether they would replace their Serbian plates with Kosovo ones, the majority of over 1,000 responses expressed the opinion that they did not want and would not remove their KM plates, meaning they would not replace them with RKS.
Furthermore, only 15% confirmed they would do so – “if forced.”
Traffic between the North and central Serbia on one side, and the North and municipalities south of Ibar on the other, has been intense for years. At least 13 buses depart for Belgrade from the Mitrovica bus station platform in just one day, with Mitrovica as the starting point.
Moreover, for years now, Serbs and Albanians traveling from the south to Mitrovica, Novi Pazar, or other destinations and vice versa have been driving cars with RKS plates, including local officials from both the south and the north.
Faced with a lack of information on one hand, and travel as a basic necessity on the other, citizens turn to registering their cars with RKS because it is the “only option left.”
They do this despite a series of car arsons, which is seen as intimidation for those who have decided to take this step – at least that’s how Kosovo officials interpret it. The latest incident happened today.
In Zubin Potok, two cars with RKS plates were set on fire last night, as confirmed. The cars were set on fire precisely because of the plates, as announced by the Kosovo president’s chief of staff.
Deadlines, queues, and discomfort
At the beginning of this month, according to official data from the Kosovo Ministry of Interior, a total of 92 vehicles switched from Serbian plates to RKS plates, 46 of which were from the North.
Although Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said last week that he was satisfied with the current response to the plate exchange, citizens are still hesitant to speak publicly about it.
The situation was the same today. In front of the Auto-Moto Association of Serbia (AMSS) in North Mitrovica, where technical inspections and insurance policies are taken for registering cars on Serbian plates and Kosovo plates, we found a queue of at least ten parked cars waiting in line.
Most drivers came here to get documents to (re)register their vehicles with RKS plates.
However, they told us this off-camera. They confirmed to us in private conversation that they were waiting in fear, not wanting to be photographed, recorded, or give statements.
“Please don’t take pictures, what do they need to see, so they can burn our cars, “ we heard people waiting in line.
A local resident who also came to (re)register her car with Kosovo plates angrily told us in a private conversation that she had no other choice.
“We have to live somehow and travel, what can we do,” she commented.
She told us that she is angry mostly because officials who had pushed and stood behind “KM remains” are now silent about what citizens facing problems on the ground should do.
Another citizen confirmed the same to us. He said he waited until the last moment to see what Serbia and local officials would say.
“I waited until the last moment to see what Serbia and our representatives here would tell us, to give us guidance on what to do. Should we take Kosovo license plates or not? Nothing has come of it, everyone is silent,” he told us.
He is upset, he says, at such “behavior and turning their backs, pushing people into even bigger problems after everything they have been through with those plates in the past few months”.
“They should have told us in time, if they knew that in the end we would have to take them. At least we wouldn’t be waiting in such long lines now.”
Cars are necessary for him, as for most citizens in Kosovo, for work.
“There are no instructions and that’s why I decided to (re)register my car, because I need it for work. I am the father of two young children and my wife does not work, only I do. In order to earn money, I need a car.
Simply put, I am forced to do this, I can’t move around with KM license plates,” said this resident of Mitrovica.
The fact that the offices of the Serbian Automobile and Motorcycle Association in Kosovska Mitrovica are currently overwhelmed with vehicles has been additionally influenced by the previously determined deadline, by which (re)registration with incentives can only be done until March 31st, and that after this date they will have to pay all fees.
Although there was speculation that the Kosovo government would extend this deadline, after several inquiries from us to several official addresses in Pristina, we were unable to confirm this information.
In the municipality of North Mitrovica, we have learned just before publishing this news, that the Civil Registration Center also has information that the deadline ends tomorrow.
KoSSev has been unable to reach a representative at the Serbian Automobile and Motorcycle Association for some time.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
