EU visa deal for Kosovo discriminates against Serbs – Belgrade — RT World News

The EU’s decision to approve visa-free travel for Kosovo residents has been criticised by a senior Serbian MP as discriminating against nearly 100,000 people, whose documents the Albanian government in Pristina does not recognise. The decision has been called “unprecedented discrimination,” with Aleksandar Markovic, chair of the Serbian parliament’s defense and internal affairs committee, claiming it punishes ethnic Serbs for holding Serbian documents. The new policy is described as direct pressure on Serbs to renounce their documents, in a policy of double standards pursued by some members of the international community. The visa agreement was approved by the European Parliament last week, paving the way for Kosovo residents to visit the EU for 90 days without visa requirements, scheduled to take effect by January 2024. Kosovo applied for membership last December despite five EU members not recognising its independence. In 2009, when Serbia received visa-free travel from the EU, the exemption was applied to Kosovo, who declared independence the previous year. Despite the Albanian government in Pristina committing to recognising Serbian passports in the 2013 Brussels Agreement, the EU and the government in Pristina still do not recognise them, forcing many of the 90,000 holders of the documents to obtain a special visa.



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