January 19 (SeeNews) - Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic has expressed concern about a new regulation in Kosovo that establishes the euro as the only accepted currency for cash transactions, highlighting that the Serbian dinar is still the main currency in Serbian-dominated areas in Kosovo, local media reported.
Vucic has discussed the issue with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and asked her to use her authority to prevent the implementation of the new rule, he told Serbian state-run broadcaster RTS on Thursday from Switzerland, where he is attending The World Economic Forum.
Earlier this week, Kosovo’s central bank approved the new regulation on cash operations, effective February 1, with the aim of combating counterfeit money.
Kosovo uses the euro as its de facto domestic currency, a practice inherited from the previous use of the German mark in the region.
According to the Serbian List (Srpska Lista), the main political party of Kosovo Serbs, Serbian institutions in Kosovo operate due to financial contributions from the Serbian government. In a social media post on Thursday, the party said the new policy is a threat to the physical survival of the Serbian people in Kosovo.
In an attempt to provide some clarification, Kosovo's central bank issued a FAQ on Thursday, stating that voluntary transactions between parties using non-euro currencies fall outside the scope of this regulation.
An email from SeeNews seeking clarity on the legal status of dinar usage went unanswered by the time of this publication.
Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia does not recognise the new state.
Kosovo’s and Serbia’s relations have seen rising friction in recent months. In May, 30 NATO soldiers were injured as they confronted ethnic Serbian protesters in the Serbian-dominated northern part of the country after newly-elected ethnic Albanian mayors attempted to assume office.
In September, a Kosovo police officer was killed in an attack involving ethnic Serbs at an Orthodox monastery in northern Kosovo. Milan Radoicic, at the time a vice president of the Serbian List party, declared himself responsible for the attack.