Whether tax will be lifted before dialogue or not, Government has not yet responded

It remains unclear whether Kosovo authorities will move towards abolishing the 100 per cent customs fee committed to products imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina before the launch of the next phase of dialogue with Serbia.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has said that Kosovo is willing to lift the tax on imports from Serbia and Bosnia, if there is a clear path towards reaching the agreement with Serbia.

In a Facebook post, Thaci has announced that during a conversation with the newspaper, The Washington Post, he has cited the request that the United States of America take on leadership “co-ordinating the international input on the final peace agreement that will bring recognition of Kosovo from Serbia”.
The Kosovo president's office has declined to comment on statements by President Thaci, how he plans the Government's decision on customs duties could be abolished 100 per cent against Serbia and Bosnia.

On the other hand, the Kosovo government has not commented on President Thaci's statements.

President Hashim Thaci and Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj had presented completely different positions, even regarding the idea presented by the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia, for changing the border, as part of the final agreement on normalising reports between the two countries.
Similarly, the prime minister, but other Kosovo government officials have insisted that the tax will not be abolished until Serbia recognises Kosovo as an independent state.

But, following President Thaci's statements, officials from Prime Minister Haradinaj's cabinet have wanted to comment on nothing.
Deputy Minister of the Kosovo Security Force Burim Ramadani has written on Facebook that “the 100 per cent target has not been set to be removed without fully changing the” circumstances.

Serbia's “recognition of the state of Kosovo, according to February 17th 2008, opens the possibility to discuss, not vice versa. National security is not put to calculations”, Ramadani wrote.

Also, local media in Kosovo quoted Minister of Trade and Industry Andrew Shala as saying that Kosovo's “president Hashim Thaci cannot give such promises for the removal of Serbia's state tax” because, as he was quoted, the Kosovo Government has decided with its proposal as minister, rather than President<3>.

On November 21st, 2018, the Kosovo government had decided on taxing 100 per cent on products imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In addition to that move, in December, Kosovo authorities have imposed the same measure for international bodies being produced in Serbia, empowering this decision from January 1st this year.

The European Union has reacted sharply to these measures, demanding the abolition of that decision.
And Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq has said that dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels, which is conducted with the relief of the European Union, will not continue until this tax is abolished.

The new Kosovo negotiating team on Tuesday will hold a meeting in Brussels to inform European Union officials of the performance of preparations in Kosovo for the dialogue process.

The opposition Vetevendosje Movement officials consider that continuing negotiations with Serbia, with the negotiating team, there is no difference compared to negotiations conducted by President Thaci. Vetevendosje MP Lieburn Aliu said at a media conference that the whole essence of negotiations must be changed.

“They want to go and negotiate with Serbia by not setting the basis for reciprocity, and this is clearly seen by the resolution and the draft agreement that Ramush Haradinaj has drafted. At the start, it is clear that the Kosovo side is ready to go into uneven talks against Serbia. On the course of this, they also would not be representatives of this” delegation, Aliu said.

Kosovo's negotiating team comprises representatives of the Government, or ruling coalition parties, as well as representatives of the opposition Social Democrat Party subject.

The dialogue on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which in 2011 had started as a dialogue on regulating technical issues, to continue later as political dialogue, has not produced the expected results of the parties in the dialogue, or the European Union, as a facilitator of this process, assessing the connoisseurs of political issues in the country. / REL