July 26 (SeeNews) - The European Commission (EC) hopes that Serbia and Kosovo resume talks for the normalisation of their relations in September, EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Friday.
Following the resignation of prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo will hold general elections, and hopefully this will enable the restart of the dialogue, Hahn said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug.
"I hope that this will be done in September," he added.
Haradinaj, who became became prime minister following early elections in 2017, said last week he has decided to resign as he has been called to appear for questioning by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in Hague as suspect.
Serbia withdrew from the talks on the normalisation with Kosovo in November, when Pristina decided to impose a tax on imports of all goods produced in Serbia and Bosnia. On November 21, Kosovo's government increased the import tax on all goods produced in Serbia and Bosnia to 100%, drawing fire from the EU. Back then, Hahn said the new tariffs on imports from Serbia and Bosnia are unacceptable and against the principles of the Regional Economic Area (REA) and Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).
Serbia and Bosnia do not recognise the independence of Kosovo, the former southern province of Serbia populated predominantly by ethnic Albanians.