Two conditions under which Kosovo lifts tax on Serbia

Authorities in Pristina are currently holding two kinds of conditions for suspending the 100 per cent customs fee that the Kosovo Government has imposed on imports from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the ruling coalition, there is no harmonised stance about suspending the fee, this requirement clearly expressed by the United States of America and the European Union.

While Parliament Speaker Kadri Veselini, who is also the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, as the largest subject in the ruling coalition, has presented the conditions for suspending the fee for 120 days, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who is also head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, insists on recognising Kosovo as a state from Serbia as a condition for suspension or abolishing the fee.

The Speaker of the Assembly, Kadri Veselini, has clarified that on the basis of American calls for suspension, he has requested suspension rather than removal of the customs fee. According to him, the customs tariff is set for Kosovo's benefit and it cannot turn against it.

“E we have placed the 100 per cent fee on Serbian products and goods because Serbia has imposed such a measure on us and the tariff will stand”, Veselin said.

However, Wessel, alluding to his proposal for a suspension of the Kosovo Government's customs duty decision for 120 days, said the proposal is concrete, given the United States' request.

But, according to him, this would only be a temporary measure, while Kosovo institutions would start actions to stop entering goods in Kosovo with Metohija's “and Metohija” inscription, as well as without respect for Kosovo institutions.

Wessel said that in this direction it is working intensively and that “Kosovo and the United States of America dare not have different positions in front of Serbia”.

To get out of Kadri Veselin's stance, Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj continues to hold the stance that the customs tax will not leave until Serbia recognises Kosovo as a state.

The leadership in Belgrade has conditioned the continuation of dialogue for normalising reports between Kosovo and Serbia with the removal of the fee. The suspension of the fee to provide access to dialogue has also been requested by the United States of America and the European Union. At this request, President Hashim Thaci, who in a telephone conversation with EU High Representative, Federica Moghrini has also stated that it must be eliminated the pretext Serbia is using so that the dialogue can continue.

The head of the Vetevendosje Movement Parliamentary Group, Glauk Konjufca, said the Kosovo government would make a big mistake if it lifts the customs duty without the goal being reached.

“Set, and half of the way back without achieving the political goal you have set for and going into dialogue under the terms of (Serbia's president, Aleksandar) Vuciqi, following the removal of the fee, this is the worst position of all the possibilities considered by”, Konjufca stressed.

For this reason, I thought the Haradinaj Government would have had to analyse this very well, if it's well analysed, if it claims it's good and this doesn't go away, then we have to stay to the end this tarife”, Conjufca said.

Meanwhile, Taulant Kryeziu from the Kosovo Institute for European Policy (EPIK) talking about Radio Free Europe, said that before the customs duty was done, it had to become a deeper analysis and be seen as if it would be more likely not to establish Tatar barriers. If the tax is removed, Kryeziu says, it will be shown that the decision to impose it has not been well thought out.

The situation I'm in today has two alternatives. First we're looking at the international factor that's putting pressure on tax removal and we've seen the first shocks from coalition partner Democratic Party. The alternatives are these: either the tax will be suspended as required by the PDK, and the dialogue should continue or the tax will remain and is moving towards the elections. These are the two options I see in this process”, Kryeziu said.

European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn earlier declared that he has offered solutions to the trade issue between Belgrade and Pristina and that he is awaiting the answer from the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia. Commissioner Hahn has said he has talked to the presidents Thaci and Vuciq, and that he has detailed his proposal.

I am willing to conduct this conversation and this would be a basis for assuming that it is possible to continue the dialogue mediated by High Representative Federica Moghrini”, Hahn has declared.

On the other hand, MP Glauk Konjufca says that if the tax cannot be maintained, the possibility is not ruled out, according to him, of bringing it into different political markets.

“If the prime minister notices that he cannot stand up to the pressures, he may enter markets which he may pour into as alternative victories. You set a purpose that you can't accomplish, but you transfer it to another purpose, and declare it a victory. Whether they entered negotiations on the banners or something else, I did not rule out this possibility, so that this too may be a package of general markets with the European Union”, Konjufca said.

The Kosovo government, on 21 November last year, has imposed a 100% customs tax on products imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia's authorities have said they will not continue dialogue with Kosovo, in the event the tax on Serbia's products is not removed by the Government of Kosovo. The United States of America and the European Union have asked Kosovo institutions to suspend that decision. /rel