Mijacic: The ban on the Serbian dinar is the biggest card Kurti's Government could play against the survival of Kosovo Serbs

Coordinator of the National Convention for Chapter 35, Dragisa Mijacic, reminded that at the end of 2023, the Board of the Central Bank of Kosovo had adopted a Regulation on cash transactions, suspending any further use of the Serbian dinar in Kosovo, and assessed that this decision would have a huge negative impact on all future processes in Kosovo, including dialogue, the sustainable life of the Serbian community, and the overall Kosovo economy.

Mijacic specified on the "X" social network that on December 27, 2023, the Board of the Central Bank of Kosovo had adopted a new Regulation on cash transactions, creating legal provisions for the suspension of any further use of the Serbian dinar in Kosovo, including the suspension of dinar transfers, banking transactions, and cash payments.

"This decision will have a huge negative impact on all future processes in Kosovo, not only those related to dialogue, political stability, security derogation, or the sustainable life of the Serbian community but also on the overall Kosovo economy and trade performance", Mijacic emphasized.

He stated that the regulation would come into effect on February 1, 2024, meaning that any use of Serbian dinars would be considered illegal from then on.

Additionally, he said that any transfer of Serbian dinars to Kosovo would be considered illegal, and such actions would be prevented by deploying and using special police forces in Serbian areas.

"This practically means that banks dealing with Serbian dinars will be closed, and the use of dinars in stores will be prohibited. In addition, all institutions of the Republic of Serbia operating in Kosovo, such as schools and hospitals, will face difficulties in functioning. Salaries, pensions, social benefits, and other subsidies provided by Serbia to its citizens in Kosovo will also be restricted. This decision literally affects all Serbs living in Kosovo, without exception, but also many others, Albanians, Bosniaks, Gorans, and Roma people. All of them use Serbian dinars", Mijacic points out.

He also states that the implementation of this Regulation will have negative implications for the economy of Kosovo and the Kosovo budget.

In this regard, he emphasizes that every year Serbia spends hundreds of millions of euros in Kosovo, and a large part of that money ends up with Albanian contractors, service providers, shopping centers, and stores.

He notes that such economic interaction has helped trade between communities and cooperation, contributing to reducing interethnic tensions.

When it is said that the Serbs and the Albanians in Kosovo do business together, as he adds, Serbian subsidies are the most common resource for such trade.

“The implementation of such regulations will certainly push the Serbs and others into poverty, leading to inevitable escape from Kosovo. Such processes will have a long-term negative impact on dialogue and prevent any possibility of reconciliation in the near future.  This is the biggest card that Kurti's Government could play against the sustainable existence of Kosovo Serbs. This is done ahead of European and American elections when there will be a vacuum in the dialogue. This is a decisive year where anything is possible except peace", Mijacic stated.

He recalls that two years ago, on January 11, 2022, the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, in a letter to Albin Kurti, had stated that the US observed his personal leadership and had asked him to "avoid actions and rhetoric that could escalate tensions".

"It is the last moment to call for personal leadership and for the State Department to stand behind its words and provide a political response to another unilateral act of the Kosovo Government before it is too late for Kosovo Serbs. It will be too late for sustainable peace", Mijacic emphasized, adding that this issue concerns Giuseppe Borrell, Miroslav Lajcak, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, David Cameron, Giorgia Meloni, Dora Bakoyannis, Jim O'Brien, but also media such as CNN, BBC World, Politico, Euractiv, The Washington Post, Financial Times.