On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 as regards holders of Serbian… passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate (Koordinaciona uprava)

a. Background

On 16 November 2023 the Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 as regards holders of Serbian passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate (Koordinaciona uprava).

According with the Commission, this amendment to Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 would allow to exempt holders of Serbian passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate from the requirement to be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States for stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period.

In 2009, Kosovo was included in part 2 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 539/2001, entailing that holders of passports issued by Kosovo were required to be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States. The Commission launched a visa liberalisation dialogue with Kosovo on 19 January 2012. On 14 June 2012, it presented to Kosovo a roadmap, which identified all the legislation and other measures that Kosovo needed to adopt and implement to advance towards visa liberalisation. This dialogue was successfully concluded, and on 4 May 2016, the Commission presented a proposal to transfer Kosovo to Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 539/2001.

This proposal was finally agreed and adopted on 19 April 2023. Regulation (EU) 2023/850 amended Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 (that in the meantime had replaced Regulation (EC) No 539/2001), by transferring Kosovo from Part 2 of Annex I to Part 4 of Annex II of that Regulation. As in the case of all previous successfully concluded visa liberalisation dialogues, it was decided that the exemption from the visa requirement should apply only to holders of biometric passports. Furthermore, it was decided that the exemption should not apply until the date from which the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council, starts operations or until 1 January 2024, whichever date comes first. Following the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2023/850, holders of Serbian passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate would remain the only citizens in the Western Balkan region required to be in possession of a visa when travelling to the EU for short stays.

With the entry into force of the visa exemption for Kosovo passport holders, in its proposal the Commission considered that the reasons behind the exclusion of holders of Serbian passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate from that visa exemption no longer exist, and that all citizens of the Western Balkan region should benefit from visa-free travel to the Schengen area.

b. The Serbian Coordination Directorate

The Serbian Coordination Directorate was established during the visa liberalisation dialogue with Serbia. The aim was to replace the seven regional Police Directorates scattered over the Serbian territory, which had been responsible for issuing passports to Kosovo Serbs until then. The passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate are biometric and have been used by their holders as travel documents for the purpose of traveling to the EU since the Directorate was established.

Since the launching of the first visa liberalisation dialogues in 2008, the Commission set out an overall objective to grant the whole Western Balkan region visa-free access to the Schengen area. Visa requirements for Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia were abolished in 2009, for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2010 and for Kosovo in 2023. In this context, removing the exclusion from the visa exemption concerning the holders of Serbian passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate would ensure that the whole Western Balkan region is subject to the same visa regime.

c. Position of the Rapporteur

The European Union’s visa policy, including its visa liberalisation regime, has undoubtedly been one of Europe’s most influential soft foreign policy tools. However, due to the complexity of the world geopolitics but also often times European Union’s internal divisions, certain compromises needed to be made and decisions taken which often create problems in the future. This is the case when it comes to the Western Balkans, where matters are never simple and rarely easy.

In what concerns the Commission proposal, the Rapporteur is of the opinion that this complex question requires the consideration of all facts and aspects, however also merits an approach where politics should be put aside for a moment.

It needs to be acknowledged that the European Union has been to a large degree a catalyst of this problem, and, therefore, the Rapporteur believes that the EU must now also resolve it.

It has been perhaps unwise to impose on Serbia, as part of its visa liberalisation dialogue in 2008, a distinction for the issuing of passports of Serbians living in Kosovo knowing that such a solution could only always be temporary in its nature. While at the same time not introducing into this temporary solution sufficient safeguards which would foresee its eventual coming to an end.

Furthermore, the lack of progress in the normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, and the fact that Serbian and Kosovo still do not mutually recognise each-other’s documents, has also not contributed in any helpful way to avoid this issue to become a problem.

The Rapporteur is well aware that the Serbian residents of Kosovo who are holders of the passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate today remain the last category of persons in the Western Balkans who are EU visa required due to no fault of their own. The Rapporteur considers this constitutes a discrimination and takes, in principle, the strongest view that any discrimination should be prohibited, and immediately remedied if it occurs. This same principle should also apply to this very proposal.

Until such time when the final status of Kosovo is resolved or significant progress is made in the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, the Rapporteur takes the view that this proposal should not try nor it can resolve the dispute between Serbia and Kosovo, nor should it be expected that it would. The Rapporteur believes that in order to achieve the best outcome, politics should be left aside and take the approach to this matter as a technical issue.

Therefore, understanding the complexity of the issues and having considered all different aspects, the Rapporteur welcomes the proposal from the Commission and supports its speedy adoption in Parliament without amendments still in the current parliamentary term.