Meeting with Kurti/Escobar: He promised me that he will consider the dinar proposals

2024-03-14 18:17:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Meeting with Kurti/Escobar: He promised me that he will consider the dinar

Washington's envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said that he had a good and open conversation with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, regarding the issue of the dinar.

After the meeting held in the Government of Kosovo, the American emissary stated to the media on March 14 that the Kosovar Prime Minister has promised to consider some of his proposals related to the issue of banning the use of the Serbian dinar.

He said that no one can be affected when he hears how the most vulnerable part of society from the Serbian community from the regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo, which foresees the euro as the only currency for making payments in Kosovo.

"The Prime Minister accepted this and promised to look at some of the proposals I presented to him today," said Escobar after the nearly two-hour meeting he held with Kurti.

The American emissary said that the USA remains the most reliable and committed partner of Kosovo. But he said that the dinar issue presents challenges in relations with Kosovo.

"To be honest, these challenges are due to the current treatment of the Serbian minority. It is unfortunate that we have to go through this situation. However, the CBK regulation on the dinar has caused problems for some of the citizens of this state and we are very concerned. We will continue to work on this issue, but I think it is an urgent humanitarian issue that we need to address immediately," said Escobar.

The US official said he hopes the Kosovo government will be flexible during a dialogue meeting next Tuesday.

Radio Free Europe learns from its diplomatic sources that the March 19 meeting in Brussels will be at the level of chief negotiators.

It is expected that at that meeting the sequencing plan for the implementation of the Agreement on the path towards the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia will be discussed for other issues, with the possibility of including the dinar issue in the discussions.

The dinar issue has strained relations between the Kurti Government and the American administration, as American officials have stated earlier that the Kosovar executive is not treating them as partners.

The regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo, which entered into force on February 1, foresees the euro as the only currency for payments in Kosovo.

The decision on the CBK regulation has been criticized by the USA and the European Union, which have argued that it was taken without prior consultation and without considering the negative impacts on the Serbian population living in Kosovo.

Washington has requested that Kosovo postpone the implementation of the decision, while the EU has requested that a solution be found for this issue within the dialogue in Brussels between Kosovo and Serbia, which is mediated by the European bloc.

The Serbian state allocates millions of euros to Serbs in Kosovo after paying them in dinars - through a parallel system - salaries, pensions and additional assistance.

Escobar started his visit to Kosovo a day earlier, when he met with the president Vjosa Osmani, with the leaders of the opposition parties and with the political representatives of the Serbs in Kosovo.

After the meeting with Osmani, the American emissary called on Kosovo and Serbia to implement all the agreements reached in the dialogue.

Meanwhile, after their meeting with the American emissary, some Serbian politicians expressed "encouragement" with the US approach to some recent decisions of the Government of Kosovo and said that they received guarantees from him for solutions "in favor of the Serbian community ".

Before starting the visit to Kosovo, Escobar declared that the implementation of the decision of the Kosovo authorities to ban the use of the Serbian dinar was "incompetent" and "catastrophic".

The American emissary will conclude his visit to Kosovo on Friday, March 15./ REL