Serbia’s minister for Kosovo: Establishment of customs completely unacceptable
Serbian Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic said on Friday that the establishment of customs in northern Kosovo was completely unacceptable.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, July 28, 2008
"We cannot allow customs checkpoints to be restored in northern Kosovo, in the villages of Donje Jarinje and Brnjak," Bogdanovic said and recalled the stand of Kosovo Serbs that they would not allow customs officers who would collect fees for the so-called independent state of Kosovo to return.
Bogdanovic said that Serbs would never accept the independence of Kosovo-Metohija and that they could therefore not accept the bodies of self-proclaimed state of Kosovo.
He voiced his expectation that UNMIK would take all steps to prevent an escalation of the conflict and new incidents, because this would not bring anything good to anybody.
"Our stand on the issue is firm, we will not give it up. We can talk, negotiate, see to solve the issue of perhaps the entry of some excise goods in northern Kosovo, but can certainly not allow the return of checkpoints and collection of fees from Serbs again," Bogdanovic said.
Head of the UNMIK Customs Sector for Legal Affairs Lulzim Rafuna said on Thursday that the top-level decision to return the customs to northern Kosovo had not been made yet, although the customs was ready for this.
The two administrative crossings in the north of the province were demolished on February 19, as a reaction of local Serbs to the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo two days previously.
