From Monday morning, shops in northern municipalities of Kosovo are closed. As a sign of solidarization, cafeterias, gas stations and taxis are not working either.
Seven months after the government of Kosovo decided to impose a 100-percent tariff on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, municipalities in the north claim they do not have goods to sell, especially dairy products, flour, oil and other products.
Rados Petrovic, a representative of Business Association from Kosovo North, told Radio Free Europe that shops closed due to the tariff and incapability of businessmen from northern Kosovo to deal with their activities. He did not say how long would the shops be closed, claiming that “this depends from the situation in the field.”
According to him, bakeries will be working with a limited capacity and bread will only be submitted to hospital, students’ center and kindergartens.
Serbian authorities said continuously that the north is threatened by a “humanitarian crisis” while officials in Pristina said this is only a staging of humanitarian crisis.
Kosovo authorities have recently increased control over alternative and illegal crossings between Kosovo and Serbia, which were used to transport Serbian goods.
