Kosovo Closes Six Serbia-Run Bank Offices in North

In pursuit of its policy of outlawing the continued use of the Serbian currency in Kosovo, police on Monday closed six offices of the Serbia-run Post Saving Bank in the north.

Kosovo Police closed six offices of the Serbia-run financial institutions in four Serb-majority municipalities in the north on Monday one week after Kosovo’s Central Bank announced that a three-month transitional period for its euro-only cash transfer policy had ended.

“Aimed at restoring legality… and on the prosecutor’s authorisation, Kosovo Police in cooperation with the Tax Administration has [closed] six units of the so-called Post Saving Bank as an illegal financial institution of Serbia in the Republic of Kosovo,” Minister of Interior Xhelal Svecla confirmed on Facebook.

“The rule of law, serving all citizens without any distinction, will continue to be our goal,” Svecla added.

The operation came days after another European Union-facilitated meeting in Brussels between Kosovo and Serbia produced no results.

“The parties could not agree on several key issues including the overall extent of activities of the new entity, the scope of beneficiaries of this entity, and financial assistance from Serbia to Serbia-supported institutions in Kosovo,” the EU said after the meeting, referencing a proposed Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo.

On February 1, Kosovo authorities gave Kosovo Serbs an undefined time to start using the euro only in daily transactions and stop using Serbia’s currency, the dinar.

The move irked the international community, which urged Kosovo to not take unilateral action against Serbian “parallel” structures and urged both Kosovo and Serbia to discuss the issue this within the EU-mediated dialogue.

Kosovo’s constitution defines the country as using “one single currency”. Kosovo has been using the euro since 2002, but people in Serb-majority municipalities, especially in the north, use both Serbian dinars and euros.