EC Spokesman on Plan for Cancellation of Dinar in Kosovo: Measures That Undermine Stability Should Be Avoided

Peter Stano (BETAPHOTO/EMIL VAS)

The European Commission (EC) wants the authorities in Pristina to clarify a decision to introduce the euro as the sole currency in Kosovo and urges the avoidance of uncoordinated measures that might affect the normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade and stability, EC spokesman Peter Stano said on Jan. 19.

Stano was responding to BETA’s question about how the European Union viewed Belgrade’s warning that the plan that the authorities in Pristina had revealed would halt the normalization process and the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, because cancelling the Serbian dinar as a means of payment would mean suspending the salaries and pensions of the Serbs in Kosovo and would prevent the financing of education and health-care.

“We truly and strongly urge the two sides to discuss the matter within the EU-mediated Dialogue,” the spokesman for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borell said.

The Commission “continues to explore and seek clarifications for the motives and reasons, as well as the potential consequences of the decision” reached by the authorities in Pristina, Stano said. He underlined that the European Union expected Kosovo and Serbia to “avoid uncoordinated moves that do not lead to the normalization of their relations and can even have an unfavorable impact on stability on the ground.”