10 more days for Serbs to get Kosovo driver’s license, Police: Then we will not tolerate
Members of the Serbian community in Kosovo have another ten days to convert their driver’s licenses – which were issued by the Serbian authorities – to those issued by the Kosovo authorities.
If they do not do so by August 9, and the police stop them while driving, they will be considered to have driven the car without a driver’s license, Kosovo Police officials have said in several responses to Radio Free Europe (REL).
Police officials point out that, in accordance with the decisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, fines will be imposed on these individuals, with the possibility of confiscation of vehicles.
The amount of fines, according to the law, is from 500 to 1,500 euros.
The Kosovo authorities do not recognize the documents issued by Serbia for the cities of Kosovo.
However, in some cases they are “tolerated”, because the process of integration of Serbs into the Kosovo system has not been fully completed.
On the other hand, Serbia does not recognize the independence of Kosovo, declared in 2008, and has never stopped issuing documents for the territory of Kosovo.
Serbian authorities issue these documents from various cities in Serbia.
In the framework of the dialogue for the normalization of relations, which is mediated by the European Union, both sides have reached an agreement on the recognition of personal documents, but it is not clear what will happen to the documents issued by Serbia for Serbs living in Kosovo .
Therefore, the parties often interpret the Brussels agreement differently.
What will happen after the deadline?
The deputy director of the Kosovo Police for the northern region, Veton Elshani, has told REL that the Kosovo Police will no longer “tolerate” those licenses that are given to Serbs residing in Kosovo, after the expiration of the deadline for their equipment with a Kosovo driver’s license.
It indicates that in that case, an individual will be fined for not having a driver’s license.
“After the imposition of such a fine, the car must be driven by someone who has a [Kosovar] driver’s license. If [the owner of the car] does not have someone else to remove the car, it must be parked somewhere immediately, or we will confiscate it,” says Elshani.
What is the procedure for obtaining a Kosovo driver’s license?
On May 7, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo made a decision to allow citizens of the Serbian community to convert Serbian drivers’ licenses with those issued by the Kosovo authorities.
The decision entered into force two days later, on May 9, and will be implemented until August 9, 2024.
In order to obtain a Kosovo driver’s license, you do not need to pass any driving test.
All you need are:
Kosovo identity card,
original driver’s license, issued by the Serbian authorities, and
a medical check-up certificate.
How many driver’s licenses have been replaced?
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said on July 27 that about 4,000 Serbs from Kosovo submitted a request for the conversion of their driver’s licenses, issued by Serbia, with those of Kosovo.
This figure mainly includes Serbs from the north of Kosovo, because those south of Ibri got their Kosovo driver’s license about 10 years ago.
“I invite all those who have not yet applied for driver’s license conversion to take advantage of this opportunity, which is available in all municipalities until August 9. I thank the citizens for the continuous cooperation with our institutions”, said Kurti through a post on Facebook.
The process of obtaining a Kosovo driver’s license was preceded by the process of re-registration of cars with Serbian license plates to RKS (Republic of Kosovo) license plates, especially for those with KM (Mitrovica of Kosovo) registration.
The process of re-registration of vehicles, which lasted from the end of 2022 until the middle of December 2023, has triggered a series of crises in the north of Kosovo: the exit of Serbs from the institutions of Kosovo, protests, barricades, boycott of elections, and everything culminated in an armed attack by an organized group of Serbs against the Kosovo Police.
However, today, in the four Serbian-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo – North Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zveçan and Zubin Potok – KM license plates, with which it was estimated that around 10,000 cars were registered, cannot be seen.
According to the data of the Ministry of Interior of Kosovo, about 4,000 cars have converted KM plates to RKS, while the rest have registered their cars in Serbian cities.
Thus, individuals who have cars with license plates BG (Belgrade), KG (Kragujevc), RA (Rashke) and other license plates registered in the cities of Serbia, drive cars in Kosovo with authorization, because their residence is in Kosovo.
With what driver’s license can a car be driven with authorization?
Veton Elshani from the Kosovo Police has seen as problematic the issue of driving a car with Serbian license plates (BG, KG, RA) in Kosovo, and has said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is working to find a solution.
Until then, according to Elshan, even the owners of these cars will be able to drive a vehicle with a Kosovar and non-Serbian driver’s license, issued by the Serbian authorities for the cities of Kosovo.
“Measures will not be taken for those who, for example, drive with BG plates and show a Kosovo driver’s license”, he emphasizes.
He adds that, based on the law, such a thing is actually not possible, but that the Kosovo authorities are trying to find a solution to this problem.
In Serbia, such authorizations are issued on the basis of ID and driver’s license data.
This means that Serbs from Kosovo, who have not changed their place of residence in the Serbian system, and drive a car with license plates of a city in Serbia, have in their authorization data from the identity card issued by Serbia for the cities of Kosovo.
This identity card is accepted by the authorities of Kosovo.
In this case, the Kosovo authorities, for now, accept the Serbian authorization, but not the identity card or driver’s license issued by the Serbian authorities.
