Serbia and Kosovo settle differences over documents for moving across the border

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, announced the settlement by Serbia and Kosovo of differences over the movement of citizens across the border.

“We have a deal…I am glad that we have found a European solution that facilitates travel between Kosovo and Serbia, which is in the interests of all citizens of Kosovo and Serbia,” Borrell said in a statement. Twitter. He reported that Serbia had agreed to abolish travel/entry documents for Kosovo ID holders and Kosovo committed itself not to introduce them for Serbian ID holders.

Former President of the Republic Aleksandar Vučić declaredthat Serbia is ready to accept the demands of the Kosovo authorities on entry documents. According to Vučić, Serbia is ready to issue a “disclaimer”, which will spell out these agreements. He noted that the decision cannot be interpreted as “any kind of recognition of the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo” and a deviation from UN Security Council Resolution No. 1244.

At the end of July, the situation in Kosovo escalated due to the decision of Pristina to abandon the use of Serbian documents. Vucic then said that Pristina plans to invalidate Serbian documents in Kosovo.

In turn, the Pristina authorities said that all Serbs entering the unrecognized entity would receive a temporary border crossing document. This announcement was made in response to Belgrade’s unwillingness to recognize certificates issued in Kosovo. As a result, in the northern part of the city of Kosovska Mitrovica, populated mainly by Serbs, citizens began to build barricades.

On August 1, the Kosovo government decided to postpone the adoption of a law on the non-recognition of Serbian documents on the territory of the unrecognized republic until September 1, 2022.