The controversy surrounding the proposal of the European Commission for the passports issued by the Coordination Directorate of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia for citizens from Kosovo to be included in the visa-free regime starting next year shows no sign of ending.
After the first negative reaction of the Albanian civil sector from Kosovo to the letter sent to the EU with the request for its withdrawal, Serbian NGOs from Kosovo reacted harshly, criticizing the move.
While the former 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 in this way the integration of Serbs into the Kosovo system is being harmed, the latter say that they the comments of their colleagues are false and insulting. They pointed out that Serbs, like other citizens, have the right to dual citizenship.
Today, responding to their colleagues’ reaction to their letter, Kosovo non-governmental organizations – 21 of them – reacted with a letter to the Serbian civil sector in Kosovo.
In the letter, they first say that they read the public reaction of the other side with deep regret and that it would have been more beneficial to their close relations if they had not conducted the controversy publicly, but directly:
„Nevertheless, respecting your decision, we are making this letter, which we address directly to you, public at the same time.“
Moreover, they stated that they believe the reaction of their colleagues from Serbian NGOs in Kosovo to be one-sided and factually innacurate, accusing them of looking at the issue of these passports „outside the political and historical circumstances of the relations between Kosovo and Serbia.“
The Kosovo NGOs listed four contentious issues listed by Kosovo NGOs, the first of which concerns, as they said, incorrect representation of the fact that passports issued by the Coordination Directorate of Serbia show residences in the „territory of the Republic of Kosovo as residences and territories of the Republic of Serbia.“
„Therefore, these passports are not issued to citizens of Serbia who live in Kosovo as if they were living in another country, but to Serbian citizens of Kosovo whom the state of Serbia considers citizens of its territory, as it has considered all residents of Kosovo until June 1999,“ the letter states.
They also claim that the concept of dual citizenship and the alleged challenges arising from that concept have been falsely presented as well:
„By obtaining Kosovo citizenship, Kosovo Serbs automatically qualify to move freely without a visa in the Schengen zone. Therefore, the legitimacy of the passports issued by the Coordination Directorate of Serbia renders them useless for that purpose“.
In their words, the purpose of these passports is only to „maintain parallel structures of the Serbian state in Kosovo“.
They added that completely ignoring the constant commitment of the state of Serbia to act against the sovereignty and the very existence of the state of Kosovo, by all means, and continuously for more than 23 years, including by:
„Organizing criminal structures that prevent Serbs in Kosovo from trying to obtain documents, license plates or passports of Kosovo with constant threats, burning of vehicles and other violent acts.“
As the last issue, they listed the following: „Ignoring the principles through which the sovereignty of the Republic of Kosovo is defined“.
„It determines that its power is exercised on the basis of respect for the rights and freedoms of its citizens and all individuals within its borders. No other country can realize this right for the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, least of all an illegal mechanism that aims to remove the attributes of Kosovo’s citizenship,“ these NGOs stressed.
They say that because „integration is a nuanced and sensitive process“, as noted by Serbian NGOs in their reaction, these circumstances are inevitable when it comes to the approach Serbian institutions take toward any element related to the subjectivity, integrity, and sovereignty of Kosovo.
„Therefore, any comparison with the civil right to dual citizenship, ignoring the circumstances and correct presentation of the facts, is a distortion of the truth,“ they warned, adding that this is the key element addressed in their request to the European Commission.
Recalling that their NGOs were „founded, registered and operate in the Republic of Kosovo“, they say that they have no dilemma that Kosovo is an „independent and sovereign state“.
They add that their assumption still remains that all civil society organizations that were founded, registered and operate in Kosovo – „also do not have any dilemma regarding this essential fact since 2008“:
„So they should not feel offended by demands based on this fact.“
They say that it is crucial to focus on solving the practical problems of Kosovo Serbs in order to ensure they can obtain Kosovo documents within this framework and on time – as pointed out by Kosovo Serbian NGOs.
At the same time, they state that they are cooperating with the Serbian civil sector on many similar issues, and invited them to a meeting next week:
„In order to openly and directly discuss all matters of interest, including joint efforts to encourage the institutions of Kosovo to speed up and facilitate the issuance of Kosovo documents to all citizens who encounter problems in this process.“
The Kosovo Albanian NGOs concluded that they want their communication to be direct and not go through public means.
Signatories:
Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF); Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS); European Policy Institute of Kosovo (EPIK); Kosovo Law Institute (KLI); DokuFest; ÇOHU!; Institute for Development Policy (INDEP); Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI); Kosovar Gender Studies Center (KGSC); Prishtina Institute for Political Studies (PIPS); FOL Movement; Democracy Plus (D+); Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN); Kosovar Stability Initiative (IKS); GAP Institute; Democracy for Development (D4D); Initiative for Progress (INPO); Community Development Fund (CDF); Organization for Increasing Quality in Education (ORCA), GERMIN.
Serbian NGOs agreed to the meeting
Not long after the reaction of the Albanian non-governmental organizations from Kosovo, Serbian NGOs reacted, agreeing to the proposed meeting.
To the claims that the Serbian civil sector transferred this entire controversy to the media, they told these organizations that they should have organized the meeting before sending the letter to the European Commission.
“We remind you that you were the first that did not consult organizations that work with the Serbian community regarding your initial reaction. This non-collegial act caused our public reaction after the damage to the credibility of the civil society sector as part of the society that is fighting for liberal values was already done.”
The Serbian NGOs said they believe that the meeting will be greatly beneficial to all to clear up technical and political aspects of this issue regarding which, there are obvious misconceptions.
At the same time, they suggested that the representatives of the international community partake in the meeting too. There is a great interest on their part for the issue of Kosovo Serb integration and the issuance of Coordination Directorate passports as well, they added.
Likewise, the NGOs suggested that it would be in the interest of the public that media also partake in this meeting.
“Our organizations have for years tried, unsuccessfully to bring to the attention of Kosovo public some of the issues non-majority communities face in civil registration and we see an opportunity to finally focus this discussion on what Government of Kosovo can do as one positive effect of this controversy.”
They emphasized that they deemed it inappropriate that the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation is the initiator of this action.
“As one of the foundations that controls the distribution of grants and deals with civil society capacities, we believe KCSF should be more neutral and avoid initiating such polarizing issues like the recent letter to the European Commission or the letter to Europa Nostra from 2021, both of which promote division in the society, discriminate ethnic communities and do not contribute to reconciliation efforts in Kosovo.”
Signatories:
New Social Initiative NSI, Institute for Territorial Economic Development, Ngo Aktiv Advocacy Center For Democratic Culture, CSD – Communication for Social Development, Avenija, Center for Social Initiatives CSI, Crno-beli svet CBS, Center for Affirmative Social Actions – CASA, Center for Peace and Tolerance Gracanica, Alternative Cultural Center Gračanica, Santa Marija, Omladinska parteška aktivnost, Institute for Public Research IJI, Network for Civic Activism, Alternativna, RTV Kim, Čaglavica
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