Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called a session of the national security council for 10am on Thursday to discuss the approaching deadline for removing Serbian plates from cars in Kosovo, Klix.ba reported.
The government of Kosovo is planning to implement an already-postponed decision to require all cars to display Kosovo-issued number plates. This decision would also impact some in the ethnic-Serb majority north who have refused to do so because they do not recognise the country’s sovereignty, despite incentives such as tax and fee breaks.
Before the session, Vučić was due to meet representatives of ethnic Serbs from Kosovo, who want to brief him about “the theft of property and cars with Serbian plates” that they believe will ensue in Kosovo after the deadline expires on 31 October.
With the deadline looming, Pristina has reported that some ethnic Serbs have changed their number plates to ones issued by the government of their country of residence with no problems. However, many are still refusing, leading to concerns that tensions could arise when the implementation starts.
Ministry of Interior, Nora Fetoshi, said that the interests of Serbian converting their license plates is increasing.
“We are continuing our campaign with the aim of informing each citizen about the procedures and reliefs that come out of this process, thus facilitating their access to information through SMS communication in the Serbian language. While the information campaign continues, citizens’ interest in registering cars and returning license plates to RKS has increased in recent days,” Fetoshi told Klankosova.tv.
But Prime Minister Albin Kurti is now under pressure to postpone the decision, due to come into force after 31 October, until a solution that Belgrade accepts is found.
This is despite Serbia being a separate country lacking jurisdiction in Kosovo, much less over government decisions relating to number plates.
Kurti says the country is simply exercising its right to sovereignty.
“We have already postponed the deadline. Instead of being on 30 September, the last date is 31 October where all citizens of Kosovo who have vehicles with outdated plates will be able to convert them into legitimate licence plates.”
“On July 31, we postponed the deadline for one month, and instead of September 30, the last date is October 31, when all citizens of Kosovo, who have vehicles with outdated license plates, KM, PR and similar, the legacy of Milosevic’s Kosovo, they will be able to convert them into legal and legitimate license plates, RKS”, Kurti told reporters.
In Autumn 2021, similar efforts by Pristina over the numberplate issue led to threats from Belgrade, road and border blockades and the flying of military aircraft up to the border.
