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Dinar takes Kosovo and Serbia to Brussels

2024-03-19 10:22:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Dinar takes Kosovo and Serbia to Brussels

Illustrative photo

Today in Brussels, the next meeting between the chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia will take place, and among the topics that will be discussed will be the issue of the dinar.

The chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia will meet in Brussels today as part of the dialogue for the normalization of relations.

It is expected that the facilitators of the dialogue, the European mediators, will meet separately with the delegations that will be led by the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, and Petar Petkoviqi as the leader of the Serbian delegation. It is not known if there will be a tripartite meeting.

The European Union stated that in this round the issue of the Serbian dinar, which has been banned for 'cash' circulation through the new regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo, will be discussed.

Days ago, the American emissary for the Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said that Prime Minister Albin Kurti did not accept the suspension of the CBK regulation.

The president of the state, Vjosa Osmani, also spoke about the ban on the Serbian dinar on Monday.

Osmani said that it is necessary to reach an agreement regarding the implementation of the new regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo, which prohibits the circulation of the dinar.

Osmani told the media that he agrees with part of the proposal of the American emissary Gabriel Escobar.

"So far there is agreement for a part of the proposal, from what I have been informed so far, and there is no agreement for another part of the proposal," she said.

The president stated that it is very positive that the internationals agree to ban the circulation of the dinar in Kosovo.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, made a statement regarding the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

He spoke again about the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia reached in Ohrid a year ago.

Borrell has stated that they will continue with the pressure on both sides for this agreement to be implemented.

"Today is the first anniversary of the Ohrid Agreement. Time is flying and it has already been a year since we reached the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, so that they could move forward towards normalization, unfortunately, despite the broad international and European Union support, Serbia and Kosovo have achieved a lot little progress".

With a Central Bank regulation, Kosovo stopped using this currency on February 1, making the euro the only means of payment.

The issue, apart from angering Serbia, also provoked disagreements between the Government of Kosovo and the international community, since the Serbian community in Kosovo, for years, receives payments in dinars from the budget of Serbia.

Western diplomats asked Kosovo to suspend the regulation, to give affected citizens time to adapt to the new practice.

Serbia insists that this issue should be resolved within the dialogue for the normalization of relations in Brussels, while for Kosovo it is technical and has to do with the country's financial integrity.

A meeting was also held at the end of February, but without any agreement. European officials said at the time that "many political questions" about the CBK regulation remain unanswered./Monitor