Kosovo announces additional time for Serbs to replace their vehicle license plates

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - The Kosovo government announced Thursday that it has extended the deadline for local Serbs to replace their vehicle license plates issued by Serbia with Republic of Kosovo (RKS) plates.

The initial deadline of Dec. 1 has been extended until Dec. 15.

"This change has come about as a result of the great demand and high interest in registering vehicles with RKS plates," the statement said.

Any license plates that have not been changed as of Dec. 15 will be considered illegal and the vehicle owners will not be allowed to drive in the region.

In early November, Serbs living in Kosovo began replacing their vehicle license plates issued by Serbian institutions and symbolizing Kosovo cities with RKS license plates, ending a longstanding dispute.

They began forming a queue at a vehicle inspection station located in the north of Mitrovica, where mostly Serbs live.

The deputy director of the Kosovo Police for the northern region, Veton Elshani, told Anadolu that around 1,500 people had received RKS vehicle license plates in the beginning of November.

A group of Serbs who do not want to get an RKS license plate aim to register their vehicles in cities in Serbia and use them in Kosovo as an alternative.

The Kosovo government had previously announced that it was granting an additional period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1 for the license plates to be replaced.

Kosovo authorities estimate that there are approximately 10,000 vehicles with illegal license plates.

The process of changing the license plates has caused crises many times in the north of the country.

Serbs who did not want to change their license plates set up barricades on the main streets of the northern settlements on July 31, 2022 and collectively resigned from the central and local institutions of Kosovo in November of the same year.

This year, more than 10 vehicles belonging to Kosovo Serbs who received RKS license plates were set on fire by an unidentified person or persons while parked.

Serbia considers Kosovo, which declared its unilateral independence in 2008, as its own territory.