The spokesperson of the European Union, Petar Stano, said on Wednesday that Kosovo risks falling behind on its path towards membership in the bloc due to what he called its unilateral actions.
He called on Kosovo and Serbia to focus on fulfilling the obligations arising from the agreements they have agreed upon in the EU-mediated dialogue.
Kosovo has been continuously criticized by the EU recently, due to the decision of the Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK) to prohibit the use of the Serbian dinar for cash transactions throughout the country, as well as the closure of several parallel Serbian municipalities in Dragash and Peja.
The EU has called these decisions unilateral and has urged Kosovo to address these issues in negotiations with Serbia in the dialogue mediated by the EU.
“We are seeing many things we have reacted to, especially in the case of Kosovo, with unilateral actions that have raised concerns for us. This creates fear on our part that Kosovo may remain outside and lag behind,” said Stano.
Kosovo applied for EU membership in 2022 and is the only country in the Western Balkans that has not yet obtained candidate status.
The regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo, which requires the euro to be the only currency that can be used for cash payments throughout the country, came into force on February 1, despite international pressure to postpone its implementation.
The Minister for Communities and Returns in the Government of Kosovo, Nenad Rašić, said on Wednesday that during a meeting with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, they agreed that the regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo regarding the prohibition of the dinar is in a transition period.
The decision to remove the dinar in Kosovo coincides with the closure of parallel municipalities operating in the Serbian system and illegal for Kosovo.
In the past two weeks, four parallel Serbian municipalities in Dragash and Peja have been closed.
Stano said he does not see a risk of blocking dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, despite the lack of progress in some recent meetings.
“The dialogue continues and we continue our work to help the parties finally start behaving constructively and move forward. We are not afraid of any blockade, in fact, we are not afraid of anything. But we are only afraid that people in Kosovo and Serbia will remain outside what is important to them, the integration process,” Stano emphasized.
He added that “we continue our work and the Special Representative Miroslav Lajčák, as well as the High Representative Joseph Borrell, are continuing their work with partners, both in the region and internationally, to enable both parties to take steps that would allow progress on all issues in the dialogue… especially in implementing all that was achieved last year in Brussels, as well as in Ohrid”.
According to the EU, Kosovo and Serbia reached the Agreement on the normalization of relations and its implementation annex at the beginning of 2023. However, they are not being implemented, despite international pressure.
