Sljuka: Brussels meeting demonstrated the seriousness of the situation, solution to the dinar issue must be found as soon as possible

Aleksandar Sljuka from the NGO "New Social Initiative" says for Kosovo Online that yesterday's meeting in Brussels is an indicator of how serious the situation is and that a solution to the dinar issue must be reached as soon as possible through the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities or through a model involving the Postal Savings Bank.

Although no agreement was reached during yesterday's meetings in Brussels, our interlocutor sees the meeting itself as a step forward.

"We heard yesterday that the parties should submit their proposals by March 25, Friday, and that another round of dialogue will be held on Monday. This is definitely a step forward, we had a trilateral meeting of chief negotiators, which has not happened for a long time and shows how serious the situation is and that the solution must be found as soon as possible. I think the solution will be a compromise between Kosovo's and Serbia's positions, and the EU will try to facilitate that. However, the EU's position is interesting. We heard from the Special Representative for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, when he visited Kosovo, and from some EU officials, that they have conflicting statements. They speak as if the CSM is the most efficient and correct solution for this situation, that the CSM should be formed, and that institutions should be integrated so there would be no problems with money and dinars. However, they say that the CBK's decision is legal and legitimate, although its legality is questionable, as many lawyers have pointed out," Sljuka says.

He describes the current situation as one where the EU and mediators want to offer Kosovo an exit strategy and not exert too much pressure, while also wanting the Serbian community and those dependent on the Serbian budget to continue receiving their money.

"They don't want to put excessive pressure on the Government of Kosovo because they see the euro as the currency that should be exclusively used. I hope that a solution will come soon. There is progress, but the question is whether it will happen at the Monday meeting or if additional rounds of negotiations will be needed. We know that Kosovo and the CBK have submitted three proposals, and Serbia insists, as we heard from Petar Petkovic, that the solution includes the Postal Savings Bank, which is logical because institutions already have open accounts, and I think that would be the fastest solution. Besnik Bislimi stated that a short-term solution was being sought. If that is what is sought to end this citizens' agony, I think it should involve the Postal Savings Bank. If a long-term solution is sought, it must certainly involve the CSM, and perhaps other models can be found there," Sljuka concludes.

He expects that new topics will be on the agenda during the upcoming negotiations because, in his opinion, Pristina is making unilateral decisions to draw attention away from the CSM.

"Every unilateral decision made by Pristina in the last two to three years has been to divert attention from the dialogue and the CSM, to provoke a new crisis. We see that the EU is now serving as a firefighter, extinguishing fires and crises, and nothing concrete is happening. We saw that agreements were reached last year. The anniversary of the Ohrid Annex was recently, and we also know that many things, or nothing, has been implemented. The EU and Lajcak cannot boast of progress in terms of normalization during his mandate. We have crisis after crisis, and Serbia is the only one that has done something by implementing the decision on license plates, but other than that, we haven't seen significant progress. I think the focus will be on the dinar issue, but I don't rule out that a new crisis will occur in the future, and Kosovo will again start closing Serbian parallel institutions. They closed institutions in Pristina and Metohija, and now, when the discussion is about the dinar, we don't see anyone mentioning that, although they were supposed to be part of the solution within the CSM framework. I don't see anyone appealing to allow these bodies to function because people depend on them, just as they depend on the CBK here. I think bigger problems are being avoided, namely, the CSM. I sincerely hope that there will be no new escalations, although the potential is great. Elections are approaching in Kosovo, and this can be considered part of the pre-election campaign of Self-Determination, and on the other hand, we have elections in the EU, i.e., the EP, and presidential elections in the US in November. All of this creates a political-security vacuum that is conducive to new crises," Sljuka stated.