Kosovo imposes reciprocal measures banning imports of Serbian goods

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Vehicles transporting Serbian goods cannot enter Kosovo unless the Republic of Kosovo is indicated on the accompanying documents, media outlets report on Sunday, following the decision of the government of Kosovo.

Thus a lorry with goods from central Serbia was returned from the administrative crossing of Merdare on Sunday morning, RTS confirmed, meaning that the application of new measures has already begun.

Kosovo government held a video session where they discussed amendments to the Decision of Reciprocity, adopting a number of measures which entail a ban of imports from Serbia if the accompanying documents do not indicate the Republic of Kosovo.

According to Kosovo media outlets, the government of Kosovo adopted a decision to ban documents „in which there is no designation of the Republic of Kosovo and which are not in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo“ in trade relations with Serbia.

Also, the government ordered the Food and Veterinary Agency to use the name and emblem of the Republic of Kosovo on phytosanitary and veterinary certificates. According to the government’s decision, Serbian companies must provide an entry permit for each vehicle with goods entering Kosovo, and the request for a permit must be submitted to the Kosovo Liaison Office in Serbia, by letter or e-mail.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that the decision of the Pristina government was unacceptable and that the Brussels dialogue would not continue until all such decisions were abolished.

„It’s a denial of all Brussels agreements, and we rightly expect the decision to be withdrawn,“ Dacic said while speaking for RTS, adding that Serbia has never accepted that the sign „Republic of Kosovo“ be stamped on the goods because it would mean a recognition of statehood.

The special representative of the European Union for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajcak, stated that he was disappointed with the reciprocal measures that Pristina introduced and asked for its immediate withdrawal.

„Disappointed about new reciprocity measures introduced by care-taker government of Kosovo. Such unilateral actions undermine the Dialogue-resumption & should be removed immediately. As consistently said, we expect both parties to the Dialogue to implement & respect past agreements,“ Lajcak tweeted.