Kosovo Euro Rule, Closure of Belgrade-Run Offices, Draw International Criticism

Illustration. Serbian dinar. Photo: BIRN

The EU and the US have separately called on Kosovo to refrain from unilateral actions when it comes to decisions that affect the Serbian community, in order not to escalate tensions, requesting time for the implementation of a euro-only policy for the Kosovo Serbs. Coordination within the EU-mediated dialogue on the closure of Serbia-run “parallel” structures has also been urged.

Referring to a cash operations regulation, which stresses the euro as Kosovo’s only official currency, the OSCE on Sunday said it was “concerned that this regulation will have a serious impact, especially for those residents receiving payments in dinars”.

Kosovo has been using the euro since 2002, but people in Serb-majority municipalities, especially in the north, use both Serbian dinars and euros. The new currencyregulation entered into force on February 1, despite international calls for a postponement.

The OSCE acknowledged Kosovo’s “readiness to provide a transitional period and invest in better communication in order to avoid difficulties and lack of clarity for those affected”, but reminded Kosovo of its obligation to respect minority rights and have every “public communication in both official languages”, Albanian and Serbian.

On February 1, Kosovo authorities started to implement the decision not to allow the import of money from unlicensed parties and in accordance with a government pledge for a transitional period, allow an undefined time for Kosovo Serbs to start using the euro in daily transactions.

On January, 31, Kosovo Deputy PM Besnik Bislimi emphasised that, during an undefined transitional period, no one will be punished for using dinars and money flows from Serbia will not be banned.

On February 3, police seized a vehicle transporting Serbian dinars to verify whether the transportation was legal. The Peja/Pec Basic Prosecution told BIRN that two persons were questioned by police.

The Kosovo Central Bank governor, Ahmet Ismaili, told BIRN’s show Kallxo Pernime that the regulation is not aimed against the Serbian community but to “fight money laundering and terrorism”. He urged Kosovo Serbs to open bank accounts and be part of the Kosovo financial system, noting that many already receive pensions and aid from Kosovo. Ismaili insisted that no one is prohibited from keeping, converting, or accepting funds in dinars as long as everything is done via legal transactions.

“The interest here is for citizens to receive every aid that comes from Serbia, as long as it is via transparent and official routes,” Ismaili said.

He also acknowledged that the US had requested a postponement of the implementation of the policy.

The Belgrade-run office in the village of Gorazhdec, municipality of Peja/Pec, during the closure by the Kosovo police, on February 2, 2024. Photo: Screenshot/ Footage from Kosovo Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Svecla

Closure of ‘parallel’ structures causes unease

The international community has also urged Kosovo to not take unilateral action against Serbian “parallel” structures and for both Kosovo and Serbia to discuss issue this within the EU-mediated dialogue.

On February 2, 2024, police closed down Serbia-run paralell structures in three municipalities, Peja/Pec, Istog/Istok, and Kline/Klina, an action that Kosovo authorities praised as an extension of legality but which Serbia and Kosovo Serb representatives condemned as “illegal and violent”. On January 26, another office in Dragash/Dragas municipality, which had issued Serbian documents for citizens in four municipalities in the south of Kosovo, was closed.

So-called Serbian parallel structures in Kosovo are a network of Belgrade-run and funded institutions functioning simultaneously with Kosovo official institutions.

On Sunday, the OSCE also criticised a closure operation at the Centre for Peace and Tolerance, an NGO in Pristina, saying that “the sudden closure of facilities offering social or health services to members of non-majority communities risks having a negative impact on individuals and families by restricting their access to some essential services”.

US ambassador to Kosovo Jeff Hovenier on Sunday said that “these actions are unnecessarily raising ethnic tensions,” warning they might limit US actions to “advocate for Kosovo in the international arena”.

“The issues related to Serbia-supported structures in Kosovo should be dealt with through the EU-facilitated Dialogue,” he said.

Similarly, the spokesperson for the European Union, Peter Stano, on Sunday said the closure of Serbia-run structures would negatively affect the Serbian community, adding that their status “is foreseen to be resolved in the EU-facilitated Dialogue, in connection with the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities”.

However, Jeton Zulfaj, political advisor to Prime Minister Albin Kurti, criticised Stano’s statement on X (Twitter), saying: “Let us not confuse either the period in which we live or what the dialogue in Brussels is about, Peter. The Serbian-run institutions ran away with the Serbian army in 1999 after committing ethnic cleansing and genocide, hundreds of massacres, and killing thousands of civilians, including 1,133 children.”

Ardita Sinani, another advisor to Kurti, accused the EU of double standards. In a Facebook post, he claimed the EU asks Kosovo to stop closing Belgrade-run structures but does not call out the passivization of addresses of ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia.

Alicia Kearns, chair of the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Michael Roth, chair of the German Bundestag’s Committee for Foreign Affairs, have both said that US and EU statements about Kosovo’s recent actions lack balance.

Meanwhile, the opposition has called on the Kosovo government to coordinate better with international allies, especially the US. The head of the Aliance for the Future of Kosovo’s parliamentary group, Besnik Tahiri, said the government’s “experiments and exhibitions when it comes to relations with the US should stop” because they are noticeable and “US tolerance is a sign of respect towards Kosovo”.

The deputy leader of Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Lutfi Haziri, told Voice of America that implementation of the currecny regulation is a constitutional obligation but that the government should coordinate such moves with the US.