The decision was made on Wednesday. From now on, Kosovo will be represented by high-ranking Kosovan officials at future CEFTA meetings of the Joint Committee, replacing UNMIK after 18 years. This decision was made at a special session chaired by Serbia. However, the news that Kosovo will represent itself in CEFTA didn’t come from the official source but from the German ambassador in Pristina. Germany, the country that revived this issue after years of stagnation, had pushed for this change. The compromise that led to this involved Pristina making a concession in exchange for this new representation: lifting the verbal ban on importing goods from Serbia, which had been imposed under the pretext of „security concerns“ after the arrest of three Kosovan police officers by Serbian authorities last year.
But how did this brief detention of police officers in June last year lead to something that had been practically unreachable for Pristina for 18 years?
By Dragana Vukosavljević
A Long Struggle for Equality
The CEFTA agreement, signed in Bucharest in 2006, includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo, represented by UNMIK (the United Nations Mission in Kosovo).
The agreement, which came into effect the following year, aims to create a free trade zone among its members by removing customs barriers and facilitating trade, enhancing economic cooperation, and fostering trade relations.
In the following years, especially after Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, Pristina continuously attempted to change its status within this initiative, often violating agreements along the way.
In 2018, under Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo imposed a 100% tariff on imports from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The goal, according to Haradinaj, was to „strengthen domestic production, the economy, and Kosovo’s statehood.“ The government also mandated that the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade and all relevant institutions block any products not compliant with Kosovo’s official and constitutional name.
Haradinaj insisted the tariffs would only be lifted once Serbia recognized Kosovo, but they were removed in 2020 during the third month of Albin Kurti’s government.
Kurti replaced the tariffs with „gradual reciprocity,“ citing barriers imposed by Serbia that hindered mutual trade, including non-recognition of Kosovan documents and license plates. He announced that these barriers would be removed step by step through reciprocity measures.
The nearly two-year-long tariffs on Serbian goods were seen as a severe violation of the CEFTA agreement, something international officials repeatedly pointed out to Pristina. Yet, a year after the tariffs were lifted, Kosovo submitted a new and final request to represent itself in CEFTA without UNMIK.
This request was rejected, infuriating Pristina, which responded by virtually blocking the trade initiative and warning that it would oppose all CEFTA board decisions until its demand for equal representation was met.
However, in the following years, there were no significant advancements or developments in this regard, aside from occasional references to the CEFTA agreement when it suited the parties or opposition groups.
Progress on this issue remained stagnant until June 14 last year.
The Arrest of Three Kosovan Policemen by Serbian Authorities = Verbal Ban on Serbian Goods
The day after the arrest of Milun Milenković, known as Lune, in North Mitrovica, and following one of the last major protests in the city’s streets, Serbian police arrested three Kosovan policemen, claiming they had crossed into the Raška area. Pristina, however, alleged that Serbian police had crossed into Leposavić and „kidnapped“ the officers.
In response, Kosovo immediately increased control at border crossings, initially conducting detailed inspections of both passenger and freight vehicles. Although inspections of passengers decreased in the following days, the action morphed into an informal ban on the import of Serbian goods, citing „security concerns“ rather than economic reasons.
In retaliation, Serbian truck drivers blocked crossings at Jarinje, Brnjak, and Merdare for several days to protest the ban and show support for Kosovo Serbs.
During this time, they prevented trucks with „RKS“ license plates from crossing, but the protests eventually subsided. Twelve days later, the three Kosovan officers were released from Serbian custody, each charged with a criminal offense involving the illegal production, possession, and trafficking of weapons and explosives.
They were deported to Kosovo on the same day. Some international officials initially urged the Kosovan government to revoke the goods ban, but their focus soon shifted to securing the release of the three officers.
More Than a Year Without Serbian Goods
Although Kosovo may have considered lifting its „security measure“ at some point, an incident in Banjska a few months later extended the verbal ban on Serbian imports for over a year.
The consequences of the ban were felt in northern Kosovo within weeks, as Serbian products, previously dominant in the market, disappeared.
They were replaced by goods from the region, as well as from Kosovo and Albania.
Over the course of that year, Kosovan police carried out dozens of raids, confiscating Serbian goods wherever they were found—whether in markets, warehouses, intercepted vehicles, or even pharmacies.
With the closure of Serbian financial institutions and banks and the cessation of monetary transactions from Serbia, the supply of Serbian dinars and products shifted to Raška.
The impact on local merchants was significant, but even greater for large companies that had been direct importers of Serbian goods.
According to the Kosovo Business Alliance, trade between Kosovo and Serbia reached around €450 million in 2022, but the ban reduced it to about €250 million in the year the ban was enforced.
Both the Serbian and Kosovan chambers of commerce emphasized that the economy and business should be kept separate from politics, as both sides were suffering from the blockade.
The verbal ban on Serbian goods was widely regarded as a violation of the CEFTA agreement, as confirmed in the European Commission’s report this year.
Kosovo’s Gradual Integration into CEFTA
Despite the long-standing impasse, a breakthrough came just before the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Process, during which a summit was held in Berlin.
Exclusively regarding Kosovo’s progress in regional integration, Germany emerged as a direct mediator in what would turn out to be the opening of doors for Kosovo to represent itself independently in CEFTA or at least move the issue of removing UNMIK from the initiative off dead center.
At the start of last month, Germany offered Pristina a compromise: lift the ban on Serbian goods in exch
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