Nikolic: Serbs in Kosovo fear that Citizenship Law could endanger them

The Kosovo Government recently adopted a draft citizenship law and approved amendments to the law on property rights of foreign nationals, enabling Albanians living in Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac to acquire property rights in Kosovo. Serbs fear that such a move could endanger them by increasing the number of Albanians, Ivan Nikolic from the NGO "Communication for Society Development" assessed for Kosovo Online, adding that it was challenging to predict whether those laws would impact demographic changes in Kosovo.

Nikolic emphasizes that it is difficult at this point to assess whether the Law on Citizenship, if passed, will have any effect on the upcoming census or demographic changes in Kosovo.

He also recalls the visa liberalization and the trend of emigration, which may be temporary but could also be used for a long-term solution. Hence, determining the consequences of the law is challenging.

"What's interesting is how people in the Serbian community perceive this and what message they receive from the government in Pristina. Opinions within the community are divided. Most believe it's another move that could jeopardize the Serbian population by increasing the number of Albanians. On the other hand, there's a push for the acceptance of Serbian passports for the visa liberalization process. It's difficult to discuss this topic without concrete and measurable data. I believe it will be more interesting after some time passes and we have exact figures on the number of Albanians from the Presevo Valley who have obtained Kosovo documents, the number of Albanians who left Kosovo after visa liberalization, and ultimately, the census itself will be an indicator. For members of the Serbian community, this is yet another move that endangers them," Nikolic said.

Recently, the Kosovo Government also approved amendments to the law on property rights of foreign nationals, allowing Albanians living in Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac to acquire property rights in Kosovo.

"I don't believe the situation on the ground will drastically change demographically or that a large number of Albanians from the Presevo Valley will buy property here in Kosovo. These are mostly people who have been here for a long time and already have their lives here. From the perspective of the Serbian community, the government's move can be interpreted as aiming for what Kurti informally and formally talked about in the pre-election campaign, even mentioning Greater Albania, something the Serbian community strongly opposes," Nikolic said.