EU invites Kosovo and Serbia to meeting for dinar criticise Faithful Bistim for unacceptable behaviour

European Union spokesman Peter Stano said that Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislim's behaviour towards the bloc's officials is unacceptable.

He made those comments a day after Mr. Bislimi criticised the European envoy for the Kosovo talks Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, for saying violations of the “progress he has imposed on himself”, inviting a meeting between the parties for next week, without prior reconciliation, to discuss the issue of using the dinar in Serb-run areas in Kosovo.

Mr. Bislimi said he rejected the invitation, since “this is not a meeting where the chief negotiator should go because the dinar issue is not part of the” dialogue, while warning that the following days will determine who will represent Kosovo at the meeting.

The “is the first time he (Lajcak) has set a meeting without a prior agreement with the parties and has also tried to determine the agenda against the principle he established in 2021 that no subject is placed on the agenda without agreeing to”, said Mr. Bislimi.

EU spokesman Peter Stano said that after last week's separate meetings in Munich between EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, Mr Lajcak has invited the parties to meet in Brussels on Tuesday 27 February, but that the invitation has not been determined who should represent Kosovo and Serbia.

He said the EU is trying to help find a solution to a problem created by an unco-ordinated decision of one side, which has not been publicly communicated to the affected population.

“We hope that Mr. Bislimi will assess the effort instead of falsely accusing EU officials and without grounds. Such behavior is unacceptable”, spokesman Stano said in a written response to the media.

A Kosovo Central Bank regulation, under which the euro is the only currency that can be used for willing payment in Kosovo, has entered into force by one February, boosting Belgrade's angry response, and concerns of Western diplomacy over its impact on the lives of Kosovo Serbs who continue to be financially supported by Belgrade, as well as tensions between the parties.

spokesperson Stano said the Kosovo Central Bank decision, aimed at boosting transparency, ensuring financial stability and fighting money laundering and counterfeiting, however, seriously affected the Kosovo Serb population. The lack of preliminary consultations means that there are no options at this moment and has particular negative impact on schools and hospitals, he said, underlining that the EU was clear in the position that this issue should be addressed under the negotiations, which he said are the only platform to find comprehensive and sustainable solutions to issues between Kosovo and Serbia.

This is repeated by the EU, its member states and other international partners in countless cases. The non-constructive stance of Kosovo authorities, failure and lack of commitment only further remove Kosovo from its European future”, spokesman Stano said.

The United States has called for Kosovo to postpone implementation of the decision, while stressing that the Kosovo government's lack of co-ordination with the United States over the issue has affected the quality of partnership between the two governments.

Under Western pressure, the Central Bank said on February 12th the decision would be implemented through a transitional period of three months during which ease for Kosovo Serb access to financial institutions will be implemented.

On Wednesday, Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi said the government is drafting a ten-point plan through which it aims to ease the impact it could have on citizens of the Serbian community implementing the decision on the dinar.