The implementation of the laws on foreigners and vehicles begins in Kosovo today, and the agreement between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the European Union’s envoy for the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue Peter Sorensen on additional measures related to the implementation of the Law on Foreigners has caused criticism in Pristina.
According to that agreement, Serbs will be given a three-month deadline to register their civil data in the Kosovo system, while Serbian students, professors and healthcare workers will be issued temporary residence permits for 12 months, with the possibility of extension.
The opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo (DSK) claims that this “directly violates the sovereignty of Kosovo,” while certain MPs and public figures assess that accepting Serbian documents and issuing temporary residence permits represents “a concession to Serbia and recognition of parallel structures,” reports Kossev.
Critics of Kurti accuse him that with these moves he enabled the legitimization of institutions financed by Serbia in Kosovo, as well as that he conducted negotiations without transparency and public debate.
Part of the opposition also claims that such decisions represent a continuation of obligations from earlier agreements from the dialogue with Belgrade, including, as they state, steps that lead toward a broader form of autonomy for the Serbian community, while some politicians believe that the measures on accepting documents and the additional deadline for registering citizens are unconstitutional and illegal.
At the same time, part of the criticism also refers to claims that the government, despite earlier political positions against, as they state, parallel structures and certain solutions from the dialogue, has now agreed to moves which, according to their assessment, allow their further functioning.
The largest opposition party in Kosovo – DSK expressed concern over what they consider the compromises of Prime Minister Kurti, assessing that he made Serbia’s illegal structures participants in the implementation of the legislation of the state of Kosovo.
These decisions show that Kurti conducted negotiations far from the attention of public opinion, in a complete lack of transparency, DSK stated and called on Kurti’s government to immediately stop the “harmful policy that produces institutional confusion and strengthens Serbia’s narrative toward Kosovo.”
Criticism was also sent by MPs of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Daut Haradinaj and Besnik Tahiri. Haradinaj said the decisions are unconstitutional and illegal, while Tahiri stated that Kurti made another concession and that Serbia is satisfied with the agreement.
Unlike those reactions, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama welcomed the coordination and agreement between Kosovo and the EU regarding the Law on Foreigners.
“Dismantling parallel structures is a difficult task. The EU must show the same courage and abolish punitive measures, move forward with Kosovo’s membership request. The Western Balkans fully within the EU is not charity. It is a strategic victory for Europe itself,” Rama wrote on the social network X.
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Source: N1 , Foto: N1