Serb List described the Central Bank’s decision that only the euro currency be used for cash transactions, as an “expulsion of Serbs” from the areas where they live in Kosovo.
According to the main party of the Serbs in Kosovo (Serb List) – which has the support of official Belgrade – this decision, which will take effect on February 1, will prevent Serbs from using the Serbian dinar in Kosovo, saying that this is tantamount to the expulsion of them “from these areas without the need to use weapons”.
“After all the forms of institutional violence that were used against the Serbian people by the authoritarian regime of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti and that failed to expel all the Serbs from Kosovo, he has now decided to stop the dinar in Kosovo and thus directly threaten the physical survival of the Serbian people”, it is said in the reaction of the Serb List.
The Central Bank of Kosovo adopted a regulation on cash operations in which it was stated that non-euro currencies can only be used to be stored “in physical form or in bank accounts” and international payments can be made with them, these currencies can also be used for exchange.
In Kosovo, in all Serbian-majority settlements, the population there uses the Serbian dinar to make payments, and those who work in Serbian institutions in Kosovo also receive their salaries in dinars. Pensions are also paid with dinars, according to the Serbian system, as well as child allowances and social benefits.
Also, in areas where Serbs live, dinars are used in commercial facilities, while in the four municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north, prices are in dinars.
“Taking in account how dangerous this decision is, its implementation would cause classic ethnic cleansing of Serbs and non-Albanians of these countries,” said the Serb List, adding that this decision should be an “alarm for international representatives to react urgently”, so that it its implementation doesn’t begin.
Until now, dinars in Kosovo circulate through the Serbian public company “Posta Srbije” which operates in the Serb-inhabited settlements in Kosovo. There are also dinar accounts in the banks “Postanska stedionica” (Post Savings Bank) and “NLB Komercijalna banka”.
The dinars have come to Kosovo from Serbia through the National Bank of Serbia, which has a vault in Leposavic, a municipality in the north of Kosovo inhabited by a majority of Serbs. The money was transported there by the money transport company “Henderson”.
