Three-way meeting begins in Brussels for dinar

A trilateral meeting, between the chief negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia under the mediation of the European Union envoy, has started on Thursday afternoon in Brussels, where it will be discussed continuing efforts to find a solution to the transfer of financial means to winter currency from Serbia to Kosovo.

This is the fifth meeting in Brussels with the participation of chief negotiators, Besnik Bislimi from Kosovo and Petar Petkovovic from Serbia, on the issue of the Serbian dinar, whose use was banned in Kosovo in February.

With Kosovo Central Bank's new regulation (BQK), the euro was designated as the only currency in Kosovo for conducting cash payments on February 1st. The introduction of this regulation has angered Serbia, which through its state budget sends financial assistance to Serbs living in Kosovo.

The international community has urged Kosovo to suspend the regulation in order to give citizens time to adjust to the new practice.

But, the Kosovo government has insisted that it is about an independent BEC decision, not political decision.

Several proposals for finding a solution under which Serbia could make payments to users of financial aid in Kosovo have been provided at meetings in Brussels on this issue.

Lajcak said Tuesday, two days before today's meeting, that he is working to find a solution to the issue.

In a summary of his activities during the week, he stressed that in recent meetings with top negotiators, they have reached “affecting the” gap over this topic.

However, last week's preliminary meeting in Brussels, where there was no trilateral meeting, ended without any results.

Kosovo's chief negotiator, Besnik Bislimi, said after the April 18th meeting that the Serbian side had come with no idea how to handle the EU envoy's initial proposal.

“This meeting could be called a futile meeting, with no result, and possibly as success of the Serbian side's stumbling policy”, Bislimi said on April 18th.

Meanwhile, Serbia's chief negotiator, Petar Petkovovic, said Belgrade “did everything to find a solution”. /REL

Brussels: Kosovo trilate meeting requested - EU-Serbia