Pristina will withdraw taxes on goods from central Serbia sooner or later, President Aleksandar Vucic said, but also stressed that this cost Serbia a lot.
Asked by journalists in Davos to comment on Avni Arifi, the head of the Ramush Haradinaj’s cabinet, who said that the government in Pristina could temporarily suspend taxes (pending a comprehensive agreement with Belgrade), Vucic noted in a statement for Serbia’s national broadcaster RTS that this would happen sooner or later.
“Whether they will abolish, suspend or otherwise find some other way, I don’t care at all. They have inflicted enormous damage and brought tremendous tensions. I said that this revoke will happen, and it will happen. Nevertheless, we paid a high price,” said Vucic.
However, he said, and no one will compensate that, neither Pristina nor the EU, nor anyone else.
Merkel
Aleksandar Vucic in Davos on Wednesday met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
After the meeting with Merkel, he said she had invited him to visit Berlin again and that they mostly talked about Kosovo and Metohija and Serbia’s European integration.
“It was not a simple conversation. We in Serbia have one view on solving the (Kosovo and Metohija) issue, while the countries that recognize Kosovo have a different position. But it seems to me that Merkel appreciates and respects our wish to talk and reach compromise,” he told reporters.
“The issues that we discussed the most were Kosovo and Serbia’s European integration. Merkel, I believe, appreciates and respects our wish to talk and reach a compromise (with Pristina),” Vucic told reporters.
The Serbian president said Chancellor Merkel showed understanding regarding the issue of Pristina’s imposed taxes on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I spoke about the tax, to which, I believe, Germany showed a response of understanding, since they always advocated free trade and the normal flow of goods, capital, people and services,” Vucic added.
“And I learned a great deal from Merkel on this day. From her I heard that compromise was something that brings about good results and that people should strive to compromise, and not destroying and humiliating their adversaries. Whether we will understand that in Serbia is a different matter altogether,” the Serbian president stated.
He said he believed it was certain that Belgrade would have significant support on its European path from Germany and Merkel.
He said he and Merkel also discussed all important issues in relations between Serbia and Germany.
“We noted that we have approached the amount of almost five billion euros in trade. Germany is by far Serbia’s most significant trade partner, with 13 percent of overall trade, and those numbers are increasing,” Vucic stated.
He said he thanked Merkel for the large number of German investors in Serbia and that he asked her to persuade new ones to come to Serbia.
The bilateral trade volume is now close to 5 billion euros, he said.
