Chambers of Commerce of Serbia and Kosovo have strongly condemned last week’s acts by supporters of radical Albanian movement ‘Self- Determination’, who overturned two Serbian trucks carrying commodities from Serbia to Kosovo. Chairpersons of both chambers will send a joint letter today to the EU institutions in Brussels and in Kosovo, requesting their active participation in finding solutions to this problem.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic also warned, two days ago, about efforts aimed at undermining economic relations and called KFOR and EULEX to provide security and free circulation of goods and people in Kosovo. Chairperson of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Marko Cadez, said that both chambers have done a lot in the past in overcoming obstacles to bigger trade, investments and better business links, whereas his counterpart from Kosovo, Safet Gerxhaliu said that overturning and stoning of Serbian trucks is an auto-goal of nationalists, which could undermine the ongoing political dialogue in Brussels between Serbia and Kosovo. Gerxhaliu further said that such actions jeopardize the dialogue and partnership, and added that this also damages the image of Kosovo, which is already quite damaged due to the release of teargas in the Kosovo parliament.
The ‘Self-Determination’ movement is strongly opposed to the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, as well as to more intensive economic cooperation in this part of Europe. ‘Boycott Serbian products’ logos have been placed on traffic lights and traffic signs in Pristina and in Prizren. Despite allegedly advocating for European values, ‘Self-Determination’ is against the free circulation of goods. They also pledge for the ban of political engagement of Serbs in Kosovo, and the leader of ‘Self-Determination’ Albin Kurti requested in mid-February the ban of work of the Serbian List, which has ten MPs in the Kosovo parliament, using the excuse that this list is under direct control of the Serbian Prime Minister and Belgrade.
The Director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric, warned that such incidents could seriously jeopardize the cooperation of entrepreneurs that was established through hard work by the chambers of commerce, and which is one of the most successful achievements of the process of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina so far. He also voiced expectations that Kosovo authorities will finally take steps in preventing such attacks in the future.
