14 minutes agoApostolova says the tariff on Serbian goods is even making Kosovo trouble in relation to the EU
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)Release of the Aegean for European Reform, ERA 2, is being hampered due to political conditions and the deployment of a 100 per cent fee on the part of the Government of Kosovo for products of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, European Union Office in Kosovo chief Natalia Apostolova said. We are at the start of launching ERA 2 [...]
“We are at the beginning of the launching of ERA 2 and I think we will make a ceremony, but when the political conditions are favourable, I am talking about the determined tariffs which are hindering us from continuing procedures”, Apostolova said at the Pristina Institute for Political Studies table, where implementation of the European Reform Agency was discussed.
Minister of European Integrations in the Government of Kosovo, Gift Hoxha did not speak of the findings of the European official Apostolova for the fee and obstacle it is making to the integration process, but only said that, from the beginning of this process, 11 out of 22 priorities have been fully implemented and others are under way.
We expect that during 2019 we will increase the dynamics of implementing priorities and we will try to overcome planet”, Hoxha said.
ERA is a joint document of Kosovo and the EU under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and is beginning to implement on November 11, 2016, at the first summit of high-level Dialogue between the European Union and Kosovo.
The package of laws that are related to European integration is large and that include laws from different sectors, such as good governance, rule of law, competition and investment climate, education and employment.
Disapproval and delay in harmonising these laws directly affect Kosovo's European integrations, Minister Hoxha had said.
The Kosovo Government's decision on customs duty 100 per cent on products from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina has been in force since 21 November last year.
The European Union is constantly seeking Kosovo's to lift the fee, as it, according to EU officials, is contrary to the free trade agreement between the countries of the region, and is hampering the continuation of negotiations brokered by the European Union for normalising reports between Kosovo and Serbia.
Even the United States has called on Kosovo to remove this move, saying it does not coincide with American interests.
But, the Kosovo government, at least so far, has not backed down on the 100 per cent fee decision, which continues to remain in force.
Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj says it will be removed only when Serbia recognises Kosovo.
