Since Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union on January 1 2007, an increasing number of Serbian citizens from the southeast have been trying to obtain citizenship from the two neighbouring countries.

While Serbian passports allow little mobility in the context of the EU’s stringent visa requirements, bearers of Romanian and Bulgarian travel documents can travel across Europe and have the same rights as all other EU nationals.

In 2006, about 1500 people from this part of Serbia were granted Bulgarian passports. But according to unofficial data, about 30 000 additional applications are waiting to be processed in the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice.

Despite a similar level of interest, Romania has not yet handed out citizenship to any members of the Romanian minority in Serbia.

The procedure for obtaining Bulgarian citizenship is not complicated, though it is time-consuming. The documentation and paper work can be finished in a few days but reaching the final goal takes at least two years.

The first and basic condition that has to be met for getting citizenship is proof of Bulgarian origin, for which a valid document referring to parents or a close kin is required.
Ivan Nikolov, president of the Bulgarian Culture and Information Centre in the south eastern town of Bosilegrad, says the wait is worth it because owners of Bulgarian passports have many privileges.

“They can import a car from abroad to Serbia without any restrictions, launch a business in Serbia as EU citizens, or vote in Bulgarian elections,” Nikolov said.
Vranje businessman Slavoljub, who received his Bulgarian passport this year, agreed. “With my new passport, I have already travelled to Italy, Greece and Germany and it’s nice to travel without having to wait in a line for visas or put up with harassment at the border, which happens to Serbian citizens,” he said. Apart from that, he has imported an Opel car that cost him a lot less than it would have to buy it in Serbia.

Lidija, a teacher from Vranje in southern Serbia, has had similar good experiences. Her grandfather was born in a village in Serbia on the Bulgarian border, which she used to get Bulgarian citizenship.

“I applied in 2005 and received my passport two years later,” she said. “I have already travelled to Italy, and I will spend my summer holidays in Spain,” she added. “I cannot get used to the fact that I can now travel without joining those humiliating queues in front of embassies and consular offices in Belgrade.”

Mihajlo Mikov, an artist from Bujanovac in southern Serbia, applied for a Bulgarian passport 18 months ago and is eagerly awaiting a positive answer from Sofia any day.
He says that because of the limited movement he enjoys with his Serbian passport, he has missed many opportunities for professional advancement.

“I used the Bulgarian origin of my father who was born in a village in southern Serbia just outside Bulgaria,” he said, referring to his application.

As a painter, he has had numerous offers to exhibit and sell works in Switzerland and Belgium but could not obtain visas for those countries.

“When I applied [in 2005], it was already a known fact that Bulgaria would become a member of the EU, so I decided to take advantage of my heritage,” Mikov said.
Ivan Nikolov says Serbian citizens who do not have Bulgarian heritage can also get Bulgarian passports in certain cases.

“They need to be married to a Bulgarian citizen for at least three years, (or) to invest a large sum of money in Bulgaria or have special merits in this country,” he said.

Tomislav Stojanovic, a businessman from near Vranje, has applied in the hope that his large business links with Bulgaria will help him. He applied for citizenship last year.
“I have had business ties with Bulgaria for the past 10 years and have made large investments,” Stojanovic said. “Citizenship will help me strengthen my business ties.”

Serbs of Romanian origin face a much more daunting task, as it is impossible to apply for Romanian citizenship in Serbia. Predrag Balasevic, president of the Vlach Democratic Party, says the problem is that Romania does not allow dual citizenship at present.

“But there are some indications that the law will be changed next year, referring mainly to cases of mixed marriages or members of the Vlach community,” Balasevic said. At the last census in Serbia, in 2002, just more than 40 000 people declared themselves as Vlachs in eastern Serbia.

Dimitrije Kracunovic, president of the Democratic Movement of Romanians in Serbia, said that “no one from eastern Serbia managed to obtain Romanian citizenship so far.” But he added: “People are very interested in it and we are trying to help them”.

Nikola Lazic is a journalist with the Vranje-based Vranjske Novine. Suzana Bozinovic is the Zajecar-based correspondent with Serbia’s Blic daily. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication. This article was published with the support of the British embassy in Belgrade and National Endowment for Democracy - NED, as part of BIRN’s Minority Media Training and Reporting Project. www.birn.eu.com