Escobar visits Pristina this week to discuss dinar issue, dialogue with Serbia

The US envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, will visit Pristina this week to talk with Kosovo Government leaders about dialogue between her and Serbia, as well as the banned Serbian dinar in Kosovo, the US State Department announced on Sunday.

Escobar will visit Belgium, Kosovo, Austria and Montenegro from March 10th to March 18, 2024, according to the announcement.

His “vision will re-focus the United States' commitment to the Western Balkan countries aimed at Euro-Atlantic integration and a deeper regional co-operation”, the State Department said.

Escobar visits Kosovo at a time when American officials' relations with the Government of Kosovo seem tense because of the Serbian dinar issue, which the Kosovo Central Bank banned through a regulation last month.

Last month, Escobar said the Kosovo government is not treating the US as a partner, due to the failure to listen to American demand on the Serbian dinar issue.

“We are very concerned because the Government of Kosovo is not treating us as partners, they do not work with us for regional stability and undermine dialogue, the process for which the US is fully devoted”, Escobar said on February 23rd.

The US has called for delaying the implementation of this decision, arguing it has been adopted without preliminary consultations and without taking the negative impacts on the Serb community in Kosovo, which uses Serbia's national currency.

The State Department said the US envoy will meet with civil society and the Serb community in Kosovo, except government officials.

It will also hold meetings regarding the impact of Kosovo Central Bank's new regulations on cash payments and to call for taking steps to meet the needs of Kosovo citizens without obstacles”, the report said.

The regulation of the CEC, which envisions only the euro currency with which cash payments can be carried out, began to be implemented on February 1st.

The Serbian state allocates millions of euros to Serbs in Kosovo after paying them in dinars through a parallel system of salaries, pensions and additional aid.

The regulation has been criticised by the European Union.

On March 4th, US Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier, and European Union Office chief (BE) in Kosovo, Thomas Szunyog, urged Kosovo to fulfil the agreements reached in the dialogue with Serbia, if it wants to join the EU and NATO.

The international union wants Kosovo to advance on the European road, we have created the conditions to achieve this, and the only way is through dialogue mediated by the EU... We hope to see efforts to move forward”, Hovenier said.

With EU mediation, Kosovo and Serbia reached the Agreement on normalising relations on February 27th of 2023.

The normalisation agreement, of 11 provisions, also envisions a level of self-awareness for the Serb community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols, while demanding from Pristina and Belgrade to implement, as well, all previous agreements reached during the dialogue.

The EU has said the agreement, which, although not signed, is obligation for the parties, has not yet begun to implement.

Meanwhile, in Belgium, Escobar will meet with European Union envoy Miroslav Lajcak and with European and NATO officials to negotiate “for efforts to advance reforms that will bring prosperity, stability and lasting peace to the Western Balkan region”, the report said. /Free RadioEurope