belgrade - with a foot on the north and an open hand ... - Koha Ditore

Coordinator’s office for the Strategy of North
Economic Chamber of Kosovo and Metohija is also present in the north, which is involved in
economic activities, even though illegal ones. It functions and cooperates <strong>with</strong> Economic
Chamber
of Serbia. Businesses and companies are registered and receive the certificate of
standards
and quality of products in Belgrade at Economic Chamber of Serbia.
Economic
Chamber of Kosovo and Metohija
President of economic Chambe
r is ~ Branko Miljkovic. 56
Address of this organization
is: “Rudarske Cete“ str. n.n., 38220 Mitrovica
<strong>with</strong> telephone
number 028 / 42 3 723 and 065 / 462-94 96, email address
privkomkim@open.telekom.rs.
After declaration of independence of Kosovo, angry Serbs of the north set
on fire border
crossings 1 and 31, more precisely the one in Zubin Potok and Leposavic. Although a
reaction <strong>with</strong> direct political symbolic, similar to the reaction
in Belgrade
of burning the
embassies, such an act involved also economic and criminal motives
of benefiting and
manipulating <strong>with</strong> taxes and provision of contraband
channels. Contraband
and avoiding
taxes were not
the only ones that brought different absurdities. Sometimes the opposite of this
practice brought huge opportunities for benefiting in the name
of bringing fictive goods, and
by using fictive VAT, thus many goods, like petrol at one point, especially the humanitarian
one,
enter Kosovo <strong>with</strong> “papers”, in the form of water spilled in the Gazivoda lake, to remain
in circulation in the Serb territory, minus taxes, fees and VAT.
Fictive goods used north as a regulator of lacks and evasion occurring in Kosovo
from both
sides of the border. 57
The same is true for
different consumables. The absurdity
is that if we take a concrete
example, Coca-Cola is cheape r in north of Mitrovica than in Belgrade, <strong>with</strong> the same
pretended product
licence.
g in the budget of Kosovo <strong>with</strong>in one year are calculated around 30 – 40
million, although very hard to document it, numbers go up that much that it is said that loss
illion EUR per year 58 Loss occurrin
goes up to 200 m
/A. According to Adriatik Stavilecit, spokesman of the
Customs of Republic of Kosovo, around 30 percent of goods entering the north part are
contrabanded.
The following table presents goods that entered Kosovo from Serbia, but for which were not
signed
payments and fees of Customs that
directly damages budget of Kosovo and its
citizens:
56 http://www.pks.rs/Default.aspx?tabid=4038
57 http://ëëë.danas.rs/danasrs/politika/sest_milijardi_evra_otislo_put_kosova.56.html?neës_id=211733
57
Different interviews <strong>with</strong> law competent persons, citizens and media.
58
/A Newspaper InfoPress, 11 May 2011, page 6
64