For the Serb minority in northern Kosovo who were used to living on Belgrade time, the pressure is growing stronger every day. Since Thursday 1er February, the approximately 40,000 Serbs living in the north of the divided city of Mitrovica were officially forced by the Kosovar authorities to abandon the use of the Serbian dinar and switch to the euro, the currency officially used in Kosovo.
For many Serbs from northern Mitrovica, this step is one of the strongest symbols of the failure of the Belgrade authorities to maintain their parallel sovereignty in this country whose independence, proclaimed in 2008, they still do not recognize. Kosovo is largely populated by Albanians, but Serbs still represent around 5% of the population, especially concentrated in the North, from where until recently they continued to challenge all the attributes of Kosovar central power.
This status quo has long made northern Kosovo a lawless zone prey to mafias, but it has been called into question since Albin Kurti came to power in Pristina in 2021. This left-wing Albanian nationalist is, in fact, striving to establish his sovereignty over northern Mitrovica by imposing, for example, since 2023 the use of Kosovar registration plates and henceforth, therefore, the euro. Although it is not part of the European Union, Kosovo has unilaterally adopted the single currency since 2002.
Flexibility
This rush to impose the euro has angered Kosovo’s Western sponsors, who worry that Mr. Kurti could destabilize a region that experienced several wars in the 1990s. The United States and the European Union have notably called on Pristina to postpone this announced change without consultation. The transition to the euro is ” non-negotiable “replied Mr. Kurti. “We do not want to punish anyone, but only to bring legality and constitutionality”he said.
The Kosovar authorities have, however, announced that they want to show flexibility in “failing to immediately apply punitive measures” against the Serbs who would continue to trade in dinars. “We will take the time to inform them”, said Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi. According to testimonies collected from Serbs by The worldthe situation in North Mitrovica had de facto still not changed on Friday February 2 and they continued to trade freely in dinars.
A good part of them remain dependent on funding from Belgrade, which would still pay around 120 million euros per year in social benefits, but also in salaries to teachers and health personnel of parallel Serbian public institutions maintained in activity on place. These payments have so far been made in dinars and into the accounts of Serbian banking establishments, which have also maintained their presence in northern Kosovo.
You have 20% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.