TIRANA – The Kosovo Government has voted to remove the 100 per cent import tariff on raw materials entering from Serbia, with a no-confidence motion in the government set to be put to parliament in the coming days amid a crisis between coalition partners LDK and Vetevendosje, said BIRN on Saturday.
On Friday night, Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced a government decision to remove the 100 per cent import tariff on raw materials entering Kosovo from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decision also states that on April 1, the government will make a decision to repeal the rest of the tariff, replacing it with reciprocal measures with the two countries.
Kurti added that from midnight, six border points would be opened to allow the import of raw materials.
The decision was passed with 10 votes in favour and 2 abstentions. BIRN learned from Vetevendosje officials that it was only representatives from Vetevendosje and Kosovo Bosniak Minister for Local Government Emilija Redzepi that voted for the bill. All cabinet members from Vetevendosje’s coalition partners, LDK, did not participate in the vote. The two Lista Srpska representatives in the cabinet abstained from the vote.
The plans also drew criticism from a number of senior US political figures, triggering an extraordinary session of the Kosovo Assembly to discuss Kosovo-US relations. Earlier on Friday, LDK announced that it had submitted a no confidence motion against the government to the Kosovo Assembly secretariat, having secured 46 supporting signatures from Kosovo MPs.
At a press conference on Friday, the opposition leader and head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, Kadri Veseli, stated that he supported the no confidence motion. Leading figures from other opposition parties have also expressed support for the bill, including former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj of AAK and former foreign minister Behgjet Pacolli of AKR./argumentum.al
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