As of March 15 this year, the Law on Foreigners will be implemented in Kosovo. That is why information appeared in the public that it will cause a disaster for the lives of Serbs in Kosovo because not all of them have Kosovo documents. In addition, the implementation of that law has actualized the issue of integration of the Serbian health and education system, which represent a pillar of the survival of the Serbian community in Kosovo.
According to the information of Igor Simić, a member of the Serbian List, about 10.000 Serbs will be threatened by this law, of which 7000 live in Kosovo. Namely, they do not have Kosovo documents.
Among the students at the University of Prishtina with temporary headquarters in Kosovska Mitrovica (UPKM), there are about 3000 without Kosovo documents, and out of 1180 teachers and associates - 550 do not have Kosovo documents and cannot obtain them.
"Nearly 40.000 Serbs receive salaries from Serbia, and nearly 28.500 pensioners receive pensions. In translation, only those who work in Kosovo institutions will be able to receive documents, and there are no more than 200 of them in the northern part of Kosovo, out of nearly 48.000 of us," explained Simić.
He read these numbers at a consultative meeting of the Serbian List and representatives of Serbian health and educational institutions. The opposition refused to participate, and not all professors were involved. After an hour and a half meeting closed to the public, the Declaration with six demands was adopted.
It calls for "facilitation in the process of obtaining personal documents" (Kosovo ones), and that the position of health and educational institutions must be "resolved through dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina through the establishment of the Union of Serbian Municipalities (USO)".
And they added that Pristina's persistent refusal to form the ZSO represents a violation of the agreement and legal acts that are in force, and that the international community must be more actively involved in "protecting the rights of the Serbian people."
Photo: M. SrejićIN AN ENVIABLE POSITION: University of Pristina in Kosovska Mitrovica
DECLARATION - LETTER ON PAPER
Branka Petković, a full-time professor at the UPKM Faculty of Science, tells "Vreme" that she learned about the meeting and the text of the Declaration of the UPKM collective from the media. "From the available information, we see that some teachers were informed about the meeting, including members of the Serbian List, as well as some members of the University management - we spotted the rector in the front row in the hall. We do not know if student representatives were present," explains Petković.
He adds that there was no prior notice or consideration of the document in the collective, which is contrary to good academic practice and ethical norms. "Such an approach of the UPKM delegation, in combination with the constant non-transparency we are facing, undermines and prevents the desired unity of the collective, which was discussed at that very meeting. It is unfortunate that at this critical moment the representatives of the University separated from their collective, not allowing it to participate in matters of vital importance for all of us", emphasizes Petković.
It also indicates that such actions deepen suspicion and concern among teachers and students, because solutions have already been foreseen, but due to this way of working, they cannot be fair and useful for the whole community.
A group of UPKM students who support students in the blockade in central Serbia reacted to the adopted Declaration and stated that it "calls for the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities", according to which the University would be transformed into the "Kosovo Educational Community".
Petković says that there is no clear determination in the declaration to preserve education and healthcare within the Serbian system, bearing in mind that the situation on the ground has changed significantly since the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex. "The solutions from these agreements, which were accepted by the officials of the Government of Serbia (I believe that the Constitutional Court should make a statement on this), after the integration of all other institutions, Banjska and everything we have experienced, now clearly lead to a mass exodus of our people from the Republic of Kosovo," explains our interlocutor.
WHY CAN'T SERBS GET KOSOVO DOCUMENTS?
What is the Aliens Act? It regulates the entry, movement, residence and employment of foreigners in the territory of Kosovo, it is written in the first article of this law, which was adopted in 2013. So, in the same year when the first Brussels Agreement was signed.
The key question is who is a foreigner in Kosovo? The law says that it is anyone who is not a citizen of Kosovo. However, in Kosovo it is more complicated than it should be precisely because of the dispute over the right of Serbs to Kosovo documents. How?
"I was born in Novi Pazar in 2000 and I have been living in Kosovo for 25 years. I was born in Novi Pazar because of the state of war, but I finished primary and secondary school in Kosovo and entered the university. My parents have Kosovo documents, and so does my husband. However, they did not allow me to take out the documents even when there was an informational campaign to facilitate the extraction of documents last year. They told me that this applied to people who were born in Kosovo, and for some reason they could not get to documents", a woman who has lived in the north of Kosovo all her life, but wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons, told "Vreme".
She further says that, although she does not have Kosovo documents, she managed to register the first child in the Kosovo system, while they did not allow her to do so for the second child, who was born in 2025. Neither she nor her husband managed to register him in the Kosovo system because her documentation is a problem.
What is the reason for that?
"They literally tell me, there's nothing we can do for you. I've been to the police station, the municipality, in Pristina, wherever I could. They just tell me there's nothing we can do, wait," concludes our interlocutor.
Milica Andrić Rakić from the New Social Initiative for "Vreme" warns that at the moment it is difficult for the Government of Kosovo to deny that there are thousands of people who want to exercise their legal right to Kosovo citizenship - that is, to be registered in the civil register - and who are prevented from doing so.
"It is not true that people who do not have documents do not want documents. For a part of people, that may be true, but it is a minority. The majority of people who do not have documents do not have them because they are systematically prevented from exercising that right. And this has been the case for the last, say, ten years," explains Andrić Rakić.
She adds that the opportunity to correct this was the period between 2016 and 2018, when the European Union and Kosovo harmonized the technical criteria for visa liberalization, and among the first criteria was that every citizen must have access to the civil registry.
"The EU did not deal with that problem in detail at the time. After all, I don't think anyone dealt with it in detail, including the Serbian community, because then you could vote with a Serbian ID card, there were no hints of the problems we have today, so it went under the radar. Today, we are dealing with the consequences of that short-sightedness," emphasizes Andrić Rakić.
He adds that there was an announcement that there will be exceptions when the implementation of this law begins, which will apply to people who do not have Kosovo documents, but whose Serbian documents are taken to Kosovo: "So, the Police Department of Kosovska Mitrovica, Pristina, Gnjilane and so on. But this has not yet been officially confirmed. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo has not announced anything on this issue so far," says Andrić Rakić.
The first announcement of the implementation of the law was in November last year. Then it was postponed to January 2026, and then to March 15 of this year.
Andrić Rakić says that for now the international community can hear that the law will be implemented on March 15, but that there will be some exceptions. "Nevertheless, there is a huge group of people who have Serbian documents in Kosovo. So it will be a significant change from what is expected," says our interlocutor. He adds that nothing has been officially said yet.
LEGAL VACUUM
According to what is provided by the Law on Aliens, students and employees in educational institutions - as well as health institutions - will not be able to obtain temporary residence without Kosovo documents. The law stipulates that someone who needs temporary residence, for example, must provide proof of enrollment in an accredited institution of higher education in Kosovo.
Such documents cannot be issued by Serbian institutions. What will happen to them then?
Andrić Rakić says that according to the ZSO statute, there should be the formation of an independent health and education network. He explains that these would be institutions that would have private status in Kosovo, but whose founders would be the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia.
"That's what it says in the statute that was presented to Aleksandar Vučić and Aljbin Kurti by Macron, Solz and Meloni in October 2023," says our interlocutor.
He adds that it is not necessarily integration, because it is not foreseen that these institutions become part of the public institutions of Kosovo.
"It's not the same as in the case of, for example, the judiciary and the police. They stopped working within Serbian institutions and started working within Kosovo's public institutions, which are financed from the Kosovo budget. And this is not exactly how it was planned," explains Andrić Rakić.
He further says that the educational system would have registration and accreditation in Kosovo, but as a private institution. "Now the question is to what extent the European Union will adhere to what has been agreed", emphasized Andrić Rakić. Since there are a little more than two weeks until the implementation of the law, Andrić Rakić believes that there is no time for integration, no matter how Kosovo envisioned it, because a budget is necessary for the integration of two large systems, and neither for the formation of the ZSO as agreed.
"I would be very surprised if it was finished by March 15 and that all students and workers in Serbian institutions could get those documents. I don't think that the goal of the authorities in Kosovo is integration - I think their goal is to weaken those institutions because integration costs money. So I don't see how it can be finished so easily," Andrić Rakić points out.
"BELGRADE, GOOD MORNING! "
"Proaktiv", an informal group of UPKM professors and associates, addressed the UPKM rectorate in writing, and appeals for an immediate reaction to the announced application of the Law on Foreigners with the foreseen consequences were sent to the offices of the Government of Serbia, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education.
"There was no response or adequate action, so today we are brought to the situation we are in," points out Petković.
He emphasizes that the negotiations on Kosovo involved people who do not live in Kosovo, and who are often denied direct access: "It is not certain that anyone who does not have the experience of living and working in these areas can fully understand and help in solving the real problems. However, the lack of will and apathy of the local population, employees and students to actively participate in the issues on which the life and existence of the community depends. Everyone should be involved - not only as support but also as a corrective to those who participate in discussions on topics of vital importance for the Serbian and non-Albanian communities."
He adds that "experience so far shows that the leaders of the Serbian List act exclusively on the instructions of the Serbian state leadership, and we now clearly see the consequences of those negotiations, as well as the pressures and unilateral actions of the Kosovo authorities."
Andrić Rakić says that they did not expect this kind of silence from Belgrade: "Before, fuss was made about small things, and now nothing happens about big things. I can't say that Belgrade's reaction is surprising, because the regime there is in a difficult internal situation and is focused on its survival, and this is felt here on the ground. For a long time, they simply do not have the capacity to deal with anything else. It seems that the Serbian List is largely intimidated, restrained perhaps beyond what is realistic. So it is quite a complicated situation," he explains. our interlocutor.
She concludes that, if Srpska lista does not take a more serious and strategic approach to these issues, she is not sure that everything can end well for the community.
"After all, it can be seen from their messages. They are not advocating a solution, but are trying to scare the international community with it. And the global situation is such that no one is interested in it anymore," concludes Andrić Rakić.
