The decision allowing citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to enter Kosovo with an identity card has been in force for ten months already. Reciprocal measures from BiH have not followed, despite the signed agreements for regional cooperation within the Berlin Process. Easier movement, without visas, would bring concrete benefits to citizens if it weren’t for politicians who place themselves above the economy and obstruct positive processes. Connection, not separation, and the integration of the region will be precisely the focus of the Summit in London, where the heads of government of Western Balkan countries and senior European officials will participate.
BiH is the only country in the region that has halted the ratification of the Agreement on the Recognition of Personal Documents within the Berlin Process, signed in 2022. The blockade comes from the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NARS). Kosovo responded to such a move diplomatically – by recognizing BiH documents as of January 1st of this year.
“This has two dimensions. First, I see it as related to the internal politics of BiH, the nationalist politics of the leaders in RS, and the second dimension is that RS does not want to work toward improving relations in the Western Balkans, and that cannot go on like this, because BiH has obtained candidate status for EU membership, and that is a paradoxical policy,” emphasizes Lulzim Peci, director of the Kosovar Institute for Political Research and Development.
The moves from RS seem unclear, even ill-considered, if we take into account that all the countries in the region, including Serbia, have allowed border crossings with Kosovo using only an identity card.
“It is precisely RS, that is, its representatives in the institutions of BiH, who insist on a visa regime toward Kosovo, while, according to research, out of 54 companies, as many as 50 from RS export goods to Kosovo,” emphasized Zijad Becirovic, director of the International Institute for Middle Eastern and Balkan Studies.
“BiH is in a stalemate situation, conditioned by various circumstances created by politicians from RS, where BiH cannot freely develop relations with Kosovo, while at the same time we have the paradox that Serbia and Kosovo are normalizing relations,” says Admir Lisica, director of the Center for Geopolitical Research.
Serbia’s policy is clear: nothing can endanger foreign trade with Kosovo, which, on average, amounts to around half a billion BAM.Therefore, the focus is on the economy. When it comes to BiH, the question is whether such actions will harm BiH’s diplomacy, reputation, and position on the international stage.
“In the coming period, we can expect the relations to become more complicated, and that the so-called Serbian representation within BiH, as they like to call themselves, will seek to marginalize BiH, make it unworkable, and through trivial issues show that they do not want prosperity, a future, or a state, and that is the goal not only regarding Kosovo but with other topics as well,” explains Lisica.
“BiH is a victim of a spectrum of circumstances and politics due to the non-recognition of Kosovo. In the end, we are talking here about politics, the economy, and the movement of people, but we must know that all positive processes in BiH stopped when Kosovo declared independence, and the great-state ideas believe that as long as the issue of Kosovo is unresolved, there is hope for redrawing borders in the Balkans. But that is, in fact, finished, and those are futile dreams,” concludes Becirovic.
Without a unified stance, the state of BiH is losing in reputation, but also economically, where, in the end, it is not ideologies that pay the price, but the citizens of the countries trapped between borders and politics.
