Lajcak says meeting on dinar in Kosovo important first step, more talks needed

“I welcome the commitment of the Parties to finding a sustainable solution for the communities affected by the recent CBK regulation. Today’s Dialogue meeting was an important first step, but many political questions remain unanswered. Additional meetings will be needed,” Lajcak said in a post on X.

Following separate meetings with the two parties’ delegation, Lajcak also met with Serbia’s and Kosovo’s financial experts to discuss a possible solution to the dinar issue in Kosovo.

Attending the talks in Brussels on behalf of Serbia were the head of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, and representatives of the Finance Ministry, Postal Savings Bank, and Office for the Coordination of Affairs in the Process of Negotiation with the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina, while Pristina was represented by Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK) Governor Ahmet Ismaili.

The CBK issued a regulation, which came into effect on February 1, making the euro the sole legal currency in Kosovo and effectively banning the Serbian dinar.

The EU said this decision causes many problems to the Serb community in Kosovo which uses the dinar and receives assistance and other payments from Serbia in dinars.

Kosovo’s chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi earlier said that he received an invitation for talks from Lajcak, but that this was not a meeting that should be attended by the chief negotiator, since “the dinar issue is not part of the dialogue.”