Serbian side to offer use of two customs seals - New proposal for Belgrade-Pristina negotiations

Serbian negotiating team has a new proposal for settlement of the customs seals issue and plans to put it on the negotiating table in Brussels on September 5th. Less than three weeks before the next round of negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina the Serbian side is ready to take a step further in making a compromise. As Blic daily learns from unofficial sources, the Belgrade negotiating team shall suggest the introduction of two customs seals at administrative checkpoints.

- The idea is that both sides, Serbia and Albania, have their seals: one that would read 'Kosovo Customs' or 'Pec, Mitrovica, Pristina Customs', and the other one reading 'UNMIK-Kosovo – Customs Service' or 'EULEX - Kosovo – Customs Service' - Blic learns from a source close to the Belgrade negotiating team. According to that source, the Serbian side shall under no condition accept a seal reading ‘Republic of Kosovo Customs’. Besides, the latter seal, as the same source claims, would be in line with the Resolution 1244.

Minister for Kosovo and Metohia Goran Bogdanovic did not want to comment on the information that Blic learned.

- We have our vision, we are willing to make a progress, to offer a compromise solution in Brussels, but that solution shall not endanger the interests of our citizens and institutions in the province. Regardless of how stubborn the opposite side is, a solution must be found - Bogdanovic stressed.

Political analysts in Belgrade and Pristina see the idea of the Serbian negotiating team as useful.

- The idea seems neutral and it is compatible with the Serbian negotiation platform, the declaration of the Serbian Parliament and the Resolution 1244. Two seals may be a transition solution until the final one is found. With such position of the Serbian side, the chances for a compromise are growing, but that issue must not be politicized because it is a 'par excellence' economic topic - political analyst Nenad Vasic told Blic.

Nedzmedin Spahiu, political analyst from Pristina, explained for Blic that every solution creating more room for the exchange of goods and flow of people was good and that the winner would be the side willing to make a bigger compromise.

Kancelarija za Kosovo i Metohiju, Beograd

Narodna skupština Republike Srbije