Borrell: EU Concerned over Dinar Ban’s Consequences on Kosovo Serbs

Josep Borrell (BETAPHOTO/European Council/Frederic Sierakowski)

The EU high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, stated on April 4 that Brussels was concerned over the fact that there had been no consultations prior to the Kosovo central bank’s decision to abolish the Serbian dinar, and the consequences that it produced for the daily life of the Serbs in Kosovo. 

“This particularly affects the schools and hospitals, considering the obvious absence of alternatives at this time,” it was declared in Borrell’s written response, published on the European Parliament’s web-site. 

To the question of French MEP Dominique Bilde about what the European Commission (EC) was planning to do regarding the establishing of the Community of Serb Municipalities, the Kosovo central bank’s decision and the Kosovo Serbs’ educational and health systems, Borrell said that the issue of the dinar converged with the issues that should be discussed in connection with the Community of Serb Municipalities. 

“The issue of the central bank’s decision on cash operations converges with the issues that should be negotiated regarding the Community, such as the status and financing of the Institutions run by Serbia in Kosovo, and their integration into Kosovo’s institutions and legal framework,” he wrote, reiterating that the founding of the Community of Serb Municipalities was Pristina’s obligation according to international law and stemmed from the 2013 Brussels agreement, which Serbia and Kosovo concluded with EU mediation and which was then adopted by the Kosovo assembly.