Meeting in Brussels: EU warns of pressure on both sides

2024-03-19 09:53:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The chief negotiator of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, and the chief negotiator of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, meet on Tuesday (19.03.) in Brussels for the next meeting within the dialogue for the normalization of relations. Officials of the European Union said that there will be pressure on both sides to implement the agreement for the normalization of relations reached a year ago and known as the Ohrid Agreement. At the meeting in Brussels, a special topic of discussion will be the issue of banning the use of the Serbian dinar in Kosovo. International authorities have asked Kosovo to suspend the regulation banning the dinar, to give time to the mostly Serbian affected citizens to adapt to the new practice.

Osmani, on the Serbian dinar: There is agreement on part of the American proposal on this issue

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, regarding the resolution of the conflict over the Serbian dinar, before the meeting in Brussels said that "the issue of the Serbian dinar in Kosovo must be resolved urgently and that there is already agreement on part of the American proposal on this matter" According to her, "So far there is agreement for a part of the proposal, from what I have been informed, and there is no agreement for another part of the proposal. It is very positive that the international community, led by the USA, agrees that there will be no more dinar circulation in Kosovo. Even with their help, we have managed that from now on even those requests and those financial aids coming from Serbia reach in euros and not in dinars. This solves a large part of the problem. Now, with the help of the USA, we have achieved that, as we stated earlier, for the full implementation of the Constitution in practice, we need allies."

The President of Kosovo emphasizes that for the rest it would be ideal if there was agreement between the parties in Brussels, in the next meeting expected to be held on March 19, at the level of chief negotiators. "The second part, which is still not agreed upon, and I fully hope that we will reach that point soon, is how to make sure that any financial aid that comes from Serbia does not go into the hands of people who have abused , who are corrupt and took the money maybe on behalf of the citizens, but used it for corruption and organized crime. Even for that part, a plan is still being drawn up."

Osmani welcomes a deal in Brussels, because it is urgent that this issue be resolved. "Kosovo has much bigger problems, including border security from Serbia, which is constantly thinking about how to attack Kosovo. We need to sit down with allies and make sure that every inch of our territory is protected," said President Osmani. /DW