Pensioner from North Mitrovica: I can barely make ends meet, but that's 'democracy' in Kosovo

Multi-day queues in front of the Postal Savings Bank, daily cash withdrawal limits of 10,000 dinars, and empty ATMs are just some of the consequences of the regulation by the Central Bank of Kosovo, which banned the dinar as of February 1st. Pensioner Dusanka Vlahovic from North Mitrovica says that this decision mostly affects pensioners, but also emphasizes that no one from the international community seems to care about it.

The already difficult life of pensioners in Kosovo has been further impacted by the recent decisions of the authorities in Pristina, but Dusanka Vlahovic states that she will not abandon her ancestral home.

"I can barely make ends meet, not to mention medications. I've been receiving treatment at the hospital for two weeks now, and there are no IV fluids available, as everyone knows. What bothers me the most is that the international community doesn't seem to be concerned about this and doesn't solve anything. I don't know what the future holds, but regardless, I was born here, I live here, and here is where I will die," she says.

Commenting on the long queues in front of banks these days, Vlahovic says she didn't even attempt to withdraw her pension because of her poor health condition.

"I didn't try to withdraw my pension because my legs hurt, I have low blood pressure, and I don't even attempt to wait. Instead, my daughter goes and waits for two to three hours, sometimes she gets 10,000 or 15,000 dinars, and then we manage with that. The situation is terrible, but this is 'democracy,' and we didn't need this 'democracy' at all. We used to live like gods, but this democracy has destroyed us all, from the oldest to the youngest," Vlahovic emphasizes.

Our interlocutor says that currently, pensioners are facing the toughest situation because they are old and sick.

"We surely cannot wait in a queue. Even if we stand in a queue, sometimes there's no money left, so we have to come back tomorrow and wait for two to three hours. They've made life difficult for the whole nation, but pensioners are the most vulnerable here when it comes to the dinar. I don't know why they did this and who it benefits, but it certainly doesn't benefit us," she stated.

Speaking about the daily reality in northern Kosovo after the regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo and the ban on Serbian goods, she mentioned that she was living extremely poorly. She tries to distribute her modest pension for the whole month, and after buying medicine, she says she can sometimes afford fruit, but more often not, because there's not enough money for everything.

"When it comes to food, they want to starve us. No one cares about that, they should lift the ban on goods and allow them to pass freely. No one talks about that now because the dinar is the most important thing. The dinar has always been our main currency, and I hope it remains so because the international community and this democracy that has come here are so concerned, but we could have done without it," Vlahovic states.