Stosic: Kosovo does not have an agreement with the EU on using the euro as a currency; abolishing the dinar is a political decision

Slobodan Stosic, program manager at ACDC, emphasizes that Kosovo does not have an agreement with the European Union to use the euro as the official currency and adds that "abolishing the dinar is purely a political decision".

"The first thing that needs to be clarified here is that Kosovo officially does not have an agreement with the European Union to use the euro as the official currency. Such practice exists, and there are examples of countries that are not EU members but have the right to use the euro according to an agreement with the EU. This is the case, for example, with San Marino or the Vatican, which are not members, but according to that agreement, they can use the euro. Kosovo does not have such an agreement, and I see this situation with dinars as political pressure on the Serbian community in Kosovo because many people receive salaries, pensions, social benefits, and child allowances in dinars, and this makes life more difficult for them", Stosic says for Kosovo Online.

He explains that the decision to abolish the dinar will harm not only the Serbs living in Kosovo but also other communities, including the Albanians, some of whom received their salaries in that currency.

"The second important thing for this topic is that the entire payment in dinars is envisioned through the CSM, and then Serbia would contribute to the Community, whether in euros or dinars and then convert it. But the whole situation was conceived to happen through the CSM, not like this. And that is the main problem because now probably some other issues that were supposed to be resolved through the CSM are being raised. This is another form of pressure on the Serbs in Kosovo primarily, although, with this decision, other communities living in that area are also covered, not just the Serbs, because we have a significant number of Bosniaks, Turks, Roma people, and even Albanians who receive income in dinars", Stosic explains.