European Interest

Kosovo, Serbia trade blows

Flickr/Marco Fieber/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Kosovo has launched a trade war with its neighbour Serbia. The decision comes after Kosovo failed to win enough votes to become a member of Interpol… after Serbia lobbied other countries to block Kosovo from being admitted.

Serbia is opposing Kosovo’s bid to be recognised as a state in the international community. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The two countries have been in talks since 2013 on improving relations so they can join the European Union and have even discussed a land-swap as a potential solution to their dispute.

As reported by Bloomberg, this process hit a wall on November 21 after Serbia lobbied other countries to block Kosovo from being admitted to the international police network.

Serb delegates jumped up and embraced each other when the vote went their way, calling it one of their “greatest victories.” Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Enver Hoxhaj responded by imposing a 100 percent tax on imports from Serbia and said more measures were coming.

“Serbia is continuing its aggressive campaign against Kosovo in the int’l stage,” Hoxhaj Tweeted. “It is also undermining the normalisation process.”

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