Mogherini tells Pristina to revoke tariffs, delegation refuses

A statement said that Mogherini reiterated the urgency to revoke the customs tariffs, announced by the Kosovo Government at the end of last year.

“Reaching a comprehensive legally binding agreement on full normalisation of relations in the context of the Pristina-Belgrade Dialogue requires a climate that contributes to good neighbourly relations, whereby past agreements are respected and implemented, and actions and statements which are not compatible with the overall interest and strategic objectives of the region are avoided”, it added.

The meeting with the delegation is viewed by Mogherini “as a demonstration of the priority the Kosovo authorities are giving to the normalisation process and to the need to work together on the dialogue,” the statement said.

Speaking after the meeting, the co-chairmen of the Pristina delegation, Fatmir Limaj and Shpend Ahmeti said they got a clear message from Mogherini that the dialogue should continue at a faster pace in the first half of this year but added that they told her the tariffs would be revoked once an agreement is reached for Serbia to recognize Kosovo.

Limaj said that they reiterated Pristina’s view that the reasons why the tariffs were raised have to be removed. “There are a lot of conditions that Serbia has to meet to revoke the tariffs,” he said adding that once a comprehensive agreement is reached there will be no need for the tariffs.

Both Limaj and Ahmeti said they told Mogherini very clearly that Kosovo would be represented by their team, and not any individual in the dialogue.

In a post on his Facebook pages, Kosovo parliament Speaker Kadri Veseli said that rejection of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is neither an alternative nor a solution, adding that rejection would benefit Serbia internationally. The post said that Kosovo entered into the dialogue with Serbia to win Belgrade’s recognition and become a member of the UN.