The connection of the full implementation of the Law on Foreigners with the issue of the status of educational and health institutions - which in Serb-majority environments in Kosovo operate within the Serbian system - is particularly problematic, as it confirms that Albin Kurti's Vetëvendosje Movement is not giving up on the policy of "forced integration" of the Serbian community in Kosovo, Miodrag Marinković from the Center for Affirmative Social Action (CASA) estimates for Radio Free Europe.
He says that the Law on Foreigners is perceived by public opinion as a "potential bypass mechanism" through which the Kosovo Government could initiate the closure of tertiary education and health institutions.
According to him, such an approach by the Kosovo authorities does not contribute to stability, but, on the contrary, "deepens distrust and the feeling of legal uncertainty among members of the Serbian community."
On the other hand, Dušan Janjić, from the Belgrade Forum for Ethnic Relations, says that the start of the integration of education and healthcare, along with the implementation of the Law on Foreigners, is a political decision, which, according to him, the authorities are right to make.
However, he expresses concern about, as he says, the lack of transparency and emphasizes that the security risk in Kosovo has not yet passed.
Janjic adds that the European Union ignores the "new reality" that has been created after the abolition of Serbia's institutions in Kosovo, even though the latter, according to him, has never presented a concrete strategy for the integration of the Serbian community.
"There are guarantees from the Ahtisaari Plan [based on which Kosovo's independence was declared], which have been transferred to the Constitution, but this has nothing to do with the Kosovo Government. The Kosovo Government has never taken the risk of offering what Kurti has warned about – the Croatian model for the protection of minority rights," Janjic tells Radio Free Europe.
Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Kurti, said on January 16 that the process of integrating Serbian health and education will be carried out in coordination with the European Union and that the concerns of non-majority communities will be taken into account.
However, it was not clarified which integration models are under consideration and whether this process will take place within the framework of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, which Belgrade also insists on.
REL contacted the European Union regarding this matter and is awaiting a response.
The Association of Serb-majority Municipalities was agreed upon within the framework of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, mediated by the EU, with the aim of providing the Serb community with a certain level of self-management.
According to a draft statute drafted by the European Union, the Association would also have to regulate the issue of revenues, namely financing from the Serbian budget.
In September 2024, Kosovo's Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, warned that health and education institutions in Serb-majority areas in Kosovo would be treated specifically, separate from the closure of other Serbian institutions, recalling that these two areas, according to the Ahtisaari Plan, enjoy broader autonomy.
The Serbian List and official Belgrade did not comment on the request of the Kosovo authorities to work on the integration of Serbian health and education over the next two months, nor did they respond to Radio Free Europe's questions regarding this issue.
Earlier, Zlatan Ellek, chairman of the Serbian List – the largest Serb party in Kosovo that enjoys the support of Belgrade – said that there will be no integration of Serbia's health and education systems into Kosovo's, adding that in these two areas there are "red lines" that must not be crossed.
In Kosovo, on January 16, the implementation of the first phase of the Law on Foreigners began, which will last until March 15.
This phase foresees an information period, namely the organization of information sessions with citizens.
According to the instruction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, published on January 16, all persons who do not possess Kosovo documents must have a work permit or license to practice the activity, for which the application is submitted to the Kosovo Employment Agency.
Educational and health institutions in Serb-majority areas in Kosovo operate within the Serbian system, so those employed in them – especially professors at the University of North Mitrovica – may face problems after March 15, when the full implementation of the Law on Foreigners begins.
Also, students of this university who come from Serbia or other countries in the region would have to obtain a temporary residence permit and fulfill other conditions stipulated by law, depending on the purpose of their stay.
In practice, obtaining a work or study permit can be problematic, as Kosovo does not recognize Serbia's institutions - it considers them parallel and illegal.
The informal association "Proaktiv", which includes professors and associates of the University of North Mitrovica that operates within the Serbian system, on January 19 expressed concern regarding the statements of Kosovo officials about integration of health and education, as well as doubts that rumors about the relocation of this university to Novi Pazar – a border town in Serbia – are based.
This unofficial information about the transfer of the University from North Mitrovica to Novi Pazar has been circulating for a long time, but was denied by Professor Slobodanka Perić, Dean of the Faculty of Law.
Through a public response, she said that the University will remain in North Mitrovica, adding that the decision to relocate it has never been made and that such a thing has not been discussed either officially or unofficially.
"Proaktiv" warned that with the implementation of the Law on Foreigners from March 15, the University of North Mitrovica will be put at risk, so it requested clarification from the responsible institutions on how this institution will function after this date.
After the war in Kosovo in 1999, Serbia relocated its health and educational institutions to Serb-majority areas in Kosovo.
Even today, local ambulances, health centers, clinical-hospital centers in Graçanica and North Mitrovica, as well as the health center in Pasjan, operate in this way.
Also, within the Serbian system, there are preschool institutions in Serb-majority areas, primary and secondary schools, as well as the University based in North Mitrovica.
Associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, Senka Kostić, who is also part of the informal association "Proaktiv", tells Radio Free Europe that employees and students do not yet have clear answers about what effect the implementation of the Law on Foreigners will have.
According to her, it is the responsibility of institutions to react in a timely manner and inform the public in a clear, fair and transparent manner about such important issues.
Kostić also believes that any idea of relocating the University is unacceptable, as such a thing "would have serious and long-term consequences for students and employees."
“First of all, it is not clear how two universities in the same city, with similar study programs and limited capacities, would practically function. Unless this measure is actually directed against the University in Novi Pazar and is intended to gradually weaken or close it down,” says Kostić.
She adds that the relocation of the University from North Mitrovica would also have a negative impact on the Serbian population in Kosovo itself, as it would "extinguish the prospect for young people to stay, get an education and build a future."
Officially, Belgrade relocated most of its institutions, which Kosovo authorities closed over the past two years, to Serbian territory.
Thus, the Serbian Post Office for Kosovo, the provisional municipal bodies, and the Postal Savings Bank operate in the border towns.
For Janjic, from the Fund for Ethnic Relations, the best model for the full integration of Serbs and Serbian institutions in Kosovo would be the Croatian one.
“The Association of Serb-majority Municipalities is a mixture of decentralization and democratization, which the European Union has entered into. The competences of the Association should be 90% competences of minority self-government… In Croatia, this is called the Serbian National Council, here [in Serbia] the Albanian National Council. This is the model,” says Janjic.
He adds that the "dual system" of education and health is not sustainable, but to find a solution it is necessary to continue the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, mediated by the EU.
This process has been blocked since 2023, when a group of Serbs – under the leadership of the former deputy leader of the Serbian List, Milan Radoićić – carried out an armed attack in Banjska, Kosovo, killing a policeman.
"Without the serious participation of the Serbian community, teachers, professors, and without any 'blackmail' with the Law on Foreigners, there is no solution," Janjic assesses.
Marinković, from the non-governmental organization CASA, says that the most favorable model for integrating health and education for the Serb community already exists and is internationally agreed upon.
"It is a functional form of self-government, defined within the European plan for the normalization of relations, which envisages the preservation of institutional autonomy in the fields of education and health, as well as mechanisms for the collective protection of the rights of the Serbian community," he tells Radio Free Europe.
In 2023, Kosovo and Serbia accepted in principle the Agreement on the Path to Normalization of Relations, which, among other things, provides for the creation of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, thus offering the Serb community a certain level of self-management.
However, Marinković emphasizes that the main problem is the refusal of the Kosovo Government to implement this plan.
According to him, there have also been growing intentions to replace the negotiation process under the umbrella of the European Union with "unilateral decisions".
"This approach leaves no room for true integration, on the contrary it creates additional uncertainty and deepens mistrust. In these circumstances, comprehensive dialogue with the Government of Kosovo is only possible with strong and sustained engagement of international mediators. The responsibility for this lies primarily with the European Union, but also with the United States, which has recently become more actively involved in this process," says Marinković.
According to his assessment, without effective pressure mechanisms, Albin Kurti's Government will not accept compromises.
The US charge d'affaires in Pristina, Anu Prattipati, said in early September last year that all Serbian institutions should be integrated into the Kosovo system, including health and education ones, but that this should be done in consultation with the Serbian community.
"This cannot be a one-sided process. It is the responsibility of the Kosovo Serb community and the Government of Kosovo to work together, ensuring that institutions maintain or improve the quality and sustainability of services," said Prattipati.
Last week, Kosovo was visited by the EU Special Envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue, Peter Sorensen, who said that continuing the high-level dialogue with Serbia remains key.
"We continue to work on dialogue issues, with the hope that 2026 will bring what 2025 did not bring," Sorensen said in Pristina.
Former German ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, said in September last year that the 2013 Brussels Agreement included six points related to the creation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, and that the recent Ohrid Agreement on the path to implementing the 2013 Agreement clearly clarifies the integration of these institutions into Kosovo's institutional system, under the umbrella of the Association.
British Ambassador to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, said in an interview with Radio Free Europe in September 2025 that the integration of health and education is a sensitive issue and that the Serbian community has numerous concerns about this process. /REL/
