31.07.08: Kosovo passport holders face uncertain EU welcome - The Diigo Meta page

• 31 Jul 08
  

  Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

  eu-policies cfsp eu-policy_memberstates kosovo enlargementpolicy_candidates westernbalkans

  • Twenty EU states will begin welcoming Kosovo passport holders after Pristina started issuing the new documents on Wednesday (30 July). Slovakia will not allow entry however, while the six other EU countries that do not recognise Kosovo have not made their position clear.
  • The documents will replace the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) passports, which have been in circulation since the UN intervened after a Serb crackdown on Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanian population in 1999. The UNMIK documents will no longer be produced but will remain valid until their expiry dates.

  • But the situation for the new Kosovo passport holders remains less clear, as Slovakia, Malta, Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece and Romania have not recognised the new state.

      

    "We do not recognise an independent Kosovo, so we will also not recognise their documents. We will continue to recognise substitute passports issued by the UN administration and Serbian passports," a Slovak interior ministry spokesman told Slovak newspaper Sme earlier this month.

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