EULEX denies report on customs talks

KOSOVO

EULEX denied on Wednesday a report in a Priština daily it sent a request to the Kosovo government “over negotiations with Serbia on customs”.

According to Albanian language newspaper Koha Ditore, this had to do with trade and came following the negotiations on the signing of a protocol on cooperation between Serbia’s MUP and EULEX.

“EULEX emphasizes that it has never sent any request to the Kosovo government to approve negotiations with Serbia on customs of facilities in connection with free trade,” the EU mission in Kosovo said in a release sent to Tanjug.

The daily wrote that, as in the case with police, when EULEX asked to negotiate and sign a protocol on cooperation with Serbia in fighting crime, regarding customs, the mission sought insight into data on “cases of violations of CEFTA by Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina” in trade with Kosovo.

Serbia and Bosnia, both members of the regional free trade agreement, late last year banned import and transport of goods that are marked with Kosovo instead of UNMIK Customs stamps.