Serbia asked the European Commission to cancel visas for the Serbs from Kosovo

Serbia had asked the European Commission to cancel the decision on the obligation to have a visa for citizens residing in Kosovo and Metohija, who had a passport issued by the Coordination Administration in Belgrade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia told Kosovo Online.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "diplomatic and other representatives of Serbia are in regular contact with representatives of the European Commission regarding travel documents issued by the Coordination Administration for citizens residing in Kosovo and Metohija".

"After the EU institutions initiated and then made a decision on the liberalization of the visa regime with so-called Kosovo, our side's discussions with the European Commission regarding travel documents issued by the Coordination Administration were intensified. The position of the Republic of Serbia on this issue is quite clear - citizens who are holders of the mentioned travel documents cannot and must not be discriminated against, and the obligation to have a visa for travel to the EU must be abolished".

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that "in a formal sense, the decision-making procedure for these travel documents is not directly related to the liberalization of the visa regime for so-called Kosovo".

"The EU institutions must make a special decision and amend the existing Regulation, which refers to the Republic of Serbia. We expect, as has been conveyed to the representatives of the European Commission, that the decision on the obligation to have a visa for this category of travel documents will be abolished," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

After the European Union approved visa liberalization for Kosovo, the Serbs from Kosovo who have a Serbian passport remained in a kind of vacuum and are currently the only group in Europe to which the ban on free travel still applies.

Since 2009, when Serbia was granted a visa-free regime with the EU, the issuing of passports to the Serbs, as well as to others residing in Kosovo, has been taken over by the Coordination Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Belgrade, and a visa is required to travel with them to the EU. This was the result of an agreement between Serbia and the EU, so that, after the decision was made to abolish visas for citizens of Serbia, the passports of those residing in Kosovo would be exempted from the visa-free regime, due to the fear of illegal migration.