Radojevic: If the Law on Foreigners is implemented, it will be administrative ethnic cleansing of Serbs

The Mayor of North Mitrovica, Milan Radojevic, stated that if the Law on Foreigners is implemented, it will represent administrative ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo.

Speaking on TV Prva, he warned that the Law on Foreigners and the Law on Motor Vehicles are very unfavorable for the Serbian people in Kosovo.

“Their implementation and the administrative obstacles that Pristina sets during the preparation process put the Serbian people in an unfavorable position. This law implies that people who have lived here for centuries are suddenly declared foreigners because they cannot obtain Kosovo documents. They cannot obtain them not through their own fault, but because of the obstacles set by Pristina. We have absurd situations where a husband or children have Kosovo documents, while the wife has to go through the process of applying for a residence permit in order to be able to stay here. This is a serious problem affecting several thousand of our fellow citizens. The very implementation of this law would tear families apart,” Radojevic said.

He emphasized that this is a serious issue and that the Serb List has been appealing to the international community for several months to resolve it.

“We held a session with all ten mayors of Serb-majority municipalities and representatives of health and education institutions in order to point out the scale of this problem. It will also affect the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija. The clergy and monastics of the Serbian Orthodox Church do not have Kosovo documents and, due to administrative obstacles, they do not even have the opportunity to obtain them,” Radojevic said.

He explained that under the administrative instruction, additional obstacles are being created preventing Serbs from obtaining Kosovo documents.

“This is pressure on the Serbs. If this law is implemented, it is nothing other than administrative ethnic cleansing. It is not carried out by force of arms, not by military means, but exclusively administratively,” Radojevic said.

He stressed that the law will affect the health and education systems in Kosovo and represents a serious blow to the University.

“At the University we have more than 7,000 students, more than 4,000 of them come to study from Central Serbia. Let us assume that a student comes to study here and, if this law is implemented, they will be obliged, when crossing the administrative line, to report to the nearest police station and declare their stay and the reason for their stay. They will bring a certificate from our University, but a new issue arises there, because the Kosovo authorities do not recognize any institutions operating within the system of the Republic of Serbia. Therefore, problems will arise for students, but also for employees of the Clinical Hospital Center in Kosovska Mitrovica. This is a serious problem. We have been appealing for months to representatives of the international community, and they are aware of the seriousness of the issue. We have been informed that there is an expert group working on resolving this problem, but for now we do not know whether they will offer any solution,” Radojevic concluded.