Belgrade will allow vehicles with Kosovo license plates to enter Serbia. The decision, celebrated by the European Union (EU), paves the way for resolving a long dispute between Serbia and its neighbor, whose independence it does not recognize. Until now, vehicles from Serbia or Kosovo could cross the border as long as they stuck stickers with the national emblems visible on their license plates. The requirement will no longer be necessary from January 1.
"The authorization granted to all vehicles to circulate (...) is a purely practical decision, to facilitate the freedom of movement of people, and cannot be interpreted as a recognition of the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo", Serbian public radio and television RTS reported yesterday, citing the director of the Serbian office for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic.
Serbia agreed to recognize Kosovo license plates and vice versa after a deal reached in 2011 under the auspices of the EU, but the decision was never fully implemented. In 2022, Kosovo changed course after a controversial decision to penalize drivers who did not replace Serbian license plates with those issued by Pristina.
Kosovo's Serbian minority, which remains loyal to Belgrade and still considers itself part of Serbia despite Kosovo's independence in 2008, responded with protests and road barricades. One such protest led in November 2022 to the departure of Kosovar Serbs from all Kosovar institutions, including the northern municipalities, local police and central bodies in Pristina, and was the starting point of a series of serious incidents. The worst occurred on September 24 with a terrorist attack by Serbian paramilitaries in northern Kosovo, in which a Kosovar policeman and three assailants lost their lives.
However, "99%" of Serb-Kosovars have voluntarily replaced their license plates with those issued in Pristina, Petkovic said. For them it was a necessity of daily life, he added.
Brussels welcomed the decision by Serbia, which aspires to join the European Union, and urged Kosovo to respond in kind. This step "shows that it is possible to move forward in the process of normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia" which favors the EU, indicated on the social network X Peter Stano, spokesman for the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Borrell
Meanwhile, protests were repeated in Belgrade on Monday to demand a repeat of the December 17 general election over allegations of vote manipulation.
The eighth demonstration in front of the headquarters of the Electoral Commission (RIK) for alleged electoral fraud in favor of the ruling party SNS, of Serbian populist president Aleksandar Vucic, brought together around two thousand people.
Protesters marched to the main police station, where they believed the 38 people who were arrested during and after Sunday's protest, which was the largest and most violent yet, were being held. According to the police, eight of their officers were injured in the clashes. Demonstrators broke windows and glass at the main entrance of the City Hall, before the police used force and pepper spray to disperse them. The opposition released images of officers beating protesters.
