"Serbia willing to accept customs form"

Source: Tanjug

VIENNA -- Serbian Ministry for Kosovo State Secretary Oliver Ivanović said Wednesday that the Serbian government was willing to accept a joint customs form.

Oliver Ivanović (Tanjug, file)

He pointed out, however, that Serbia would never accept a “Kosovo” customs stamp.

“Serbia would not like duties to be collected at administrative crossings,” he told Vienna-based daily Der Standard, pointing out that Belgrade wanted the implementation of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).

Der Standard recalled that CEFTA's implementation did not mean that transit zones between central Serbia and Kosovo would be fully customs-free.

Ivanović pointed out he could not imagine a model according to which Kosovo Serbs would be linked by 80 percent to the government structures in Belgrade and by 20 percent to those in Priština.

“We are ready to take part in the elections in Kosovo and to be represented in its parliament, but we want our own identity cards, Serbian registration plates, and to maintain our Serbian passports,” Ivanović was quoted as saying.

Der Standard said that a partition of Kosovo was unacceptable for the West, as it feared a possible rebellion of Albanians in Macedonia. The daily added, however, that it was not quite clear how the model for the Kosovo north should look like.

The Belgrade-Priština dialogue meetings will continue this fall, after which the election campaign for parliamentary elections should begin in Serbia, so further talks would be futile until then, the Vienna-based daily said.