The authorities in Kosovo close the branches of a Serbian bank in the north

2024-05-20 18:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The authorities in Kosovo announced on Monday that they have closed six units of the "Postal Savings Bank" of Serbia in the north of the country, this institution that distributed payments from Belgrade to Serbian citizens in Kosovo.

The Kosovo Police said that the operation to close the units of this bank went without problems and was carried out in cooperation with the Central Bank of Kosovo and the Tax Administration of Kosovo.

"The purpose of the police operation is to establish order and legality. "With the authorization of the competent prosecutor, six units of the so-called illegal Postal Savings Bank in the north of the country have been closed," said a police announcement.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Xelal Sveçla, wrote on social networks that "the rule of law and order, service to all citizens without any distinction will continue to be our goal to which we have continuously committed ourselves".

The operation prompted a strong reaction from the head of the office for Kosovo in the government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, who described it as "another violent act of abolishing Serbian institutions in the north and expelling the Serbian people".

He said that "Albin Kurti wants war and suffering for the Serbian people, because everything he does in the last months, he does exclusively for the sake of expelling Serbs from the territory of Kosovo".

Monday's operation comes nearly four months after a Central Bank of Kosovo regulation came into force according to which the euro is the only currency that can be used for cash payments in Kosovo. This had prompted the angry reaction of Belgrade, and the concerns of Western diplomacy about its impact on the lives of Kosovo Serbs who continue to be financially supported by Belgrade, as well as on the tensions between the parties.

Kosovo and Serbia had agreed to talk in Brussels with the facilitation of the European Union to find a solution to the issue of payments, but without success even after seven meetings.

Diplomats have repeatedly called on the government of Kosovo to suspend the regulation of the Central Bank and to give time to the affected citizens to adapt to the new situation. This issue has turned into a topic of disagreement between the government in Pristina and Western diplomacy and the quality of the partnership with the United States./ VOA