Bogicevic: Same regime at administrative crossings
Director of the Serbian Customs Administration Tihomir Bogicevic said on Tuesday that the same regime is still in force at the administrative crossings in northern Kosovo, and noted that a full agreement is yet to be reached as to where the customs revenue would go to. “These days, the regime we have had so far is still in force, nothing has changed in comparison to the last year. That is the current state,” Bogicevic said at an annual conference of the Customs Administration.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Tuesday, January 29, 2013
He noted that the Customs Administration has one representative in the working group that is taking part in the negotiations.
"At the moment, there is, in fact, no detail that you do not know. During the previous round of talks, an effort was made to reach an agreement so that the taxes would not be collected, at Jarinje and Brnjak in particular," Bogicevic said.
During the talks facilitated by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci reached an agreement on temporary collection of customs duties at the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings in northern Kosovo this month. It was agreed that the money would go to a fund that will be formed by the EU, and used exclusively for northern Kosovo in which Serbs constitute a majority.
Bogicevic said that a full agreement is yet to be reached where the money collected in this way would go to.
He noted that Serbia and Serbs from the four municipalities in northern Kosovo deem it unacceptable that the money goes to the budget in Pristina, and then be invested in "some kind of development of the north."
Bogicevic added that an idea is that the money be paid into a separate account, from which it would be channeled into the development of the municipalities in northern Kosovo.
There is yet another detail which remained vague as the two sides could not agree on that. It refers to the registration of companies, Bogicevic noted.
The director of the Customs Administration concluded that there are still open issues, the ones that go deep into politics, so it can hardly be expected that a service such as the one of customs will have a decisive role.
"At the moment, there is, in fact, no detail that you do not know. During the previous round of talks, an effort was made to reach an agreement so that the taxes would not be collected, at Jarinje and Brnjak in particular," Bogicevic said.
During the talks facilitated by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci reached an agreement on temporary collection of customs duties at the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings in northern Kosovo this month. It was agreed that the money would go to a fund that will be formed by the EU, and used exclusively for northern Kosovo in which Serbs constitute a majority.
Bogicevic said that a full agreement is yet to be reached where the money collected in this way would go to.
He noted that Serbia and Serbs from the four municipalities in northern Kosovo deem it unacceptable that the money goes to the budget in Pristina, and then be invested in "some kind of development of the north."
Bogicevic added that an idea is that the money be paid into a separate account, from which it would be channeled into the development of the municipalities in northern Kosovo.
There is yet another detail which remained vague as the two sides could not agree on that. It refers to the registration of companies, Bogicevic noted.
The director of the Customs Administration concluded that there are still open issues, the ones that go deep into politics, so it can hardly be expected that a service such as the one of customs will have a decisive role.
