Bilall Sherifi, head of the Social Democratic Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA) parliamentary group, said in an interview with Telegrafi that the import tariff on products from Serbia can be suspended once the reasons for its introduction are eliminated. Sherifi said the tariff should not discussed in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue but should be tackled as a topic on its own. “The tax and the dialogue are two different things. If Serbia continues to condition it with the tax, so should Kosovo come up with other conditions,” Sherifi said.
Asked about the position of international community opposing the tax, Sherifi replied: “We as a coalition do not have a joint position on this. Of course it harms Kosovo. we have been told in meetings with U.S. officials: ‘give us a list of demands you consider would be equivalent for lifting the tax.’ Kosovo has not yet achieved internal consensus. On the one hand we have Prime Minister Haradinaj who maintains the tax will not be lifted until recognition and on the other, we have Speaker Veseli saying the tax should be suspended unconditionally. We, as NISMA, have put forth our request of what Serbia needs to do but there is no readiness on any of the parties to find a middle ground.”