Serbia Sees Kosovo Talks Stalled Until After European Elections

(Bloomberg) -- Serbia doesn’t see much progress on resolving its differences with Kosovo, to enable both to eventually join the European Union, until after the bloc’s elections in May.

Years of EU-mediated dialog came to a halt last year when Kosovo imposed import tax on products from Serbia after that country lobbied against Kosovo joining international organizations. While Serbia expects the EU to persuade Kosovo to repeal the trade barriers, this is unlikely before the European Parliament vote, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said.

“I’m sure there won’t be any movement in lifting the tax until the elections are over” and new EU administration is formed in the second half of the year, Dacic told state broadcaster RTS in an interview.

To contact the reporter on this story: Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Andrew Langley, Ott Ummelas

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