On the ground, absolutely freezing
the hard work of community action that is taking place in the north
Over 500 people came out last Sunday to sign the petition - initiated by the Serbian Democracy party - a Kosovo Serbian opposition party - for the Kosovo government expropriation of land for a police base to be halted. The land contained several buildings built by Serbian institutions, a new sports hall and the beginnings of a new school built for Romani children.
Volunteers were standing in the cold for hours then, and are still out in the cold and snow this weekend collecting signatures. Aleksandar Arsenijević, the head of the Serbian Democracy party, told me that he would give the petition to the municipality which would be required to stop the building, this is what he has been told by the municipality.
Meanwhile, people also went out in the 100s to sign petitions to get rid of the mayors voted in last spring across the north. The push behind this was apparently Srpska Lista. At first the municipalities tried to stop the organizers from initiating the petition drive. But with pressure from the international community they are moving in force.
It is interesting that the first petition got no media interest from Albanian dominated media but the second one was covered extensively. The concern framing much of the media coverage is that people are being forced to sign the petitions. But discontent and the realization that boycotting the elections was a mistake has been a widespread feeling for sometime.
Serbian Democracy says their petition has been run transparently. No one was encouraged to sign it it was merely the will of the citizens. Though they agree with the petition against the mayors, they still question the motives.
What it is clear is that Kosovo Serbs are willing to work within the Kosovo system now. But how will that change their prospects? That answer isn’t clear yet.
It was also announced by Serbian president Vučić, that the Kosovo government wants to ban the Serbian dinar from being used in Kosovo as of 1 February. in most Serbian communities buth the dinar and the euro are accepted. But according to Dragiša Mijačić, head of the NGO INTeR, about 87,000 people are paid benefits, salaries or pensions in Serbian Dinars from the Serbian government. Kosovo is estimated to have about 1.5 million people.
What these people will do without having Dinars is hard to say. This will hurt the economy even more so now that people will not receive income in Dinars, including all minorities and Albanians as well. NLB Bank - A Serbian bank - will now close all of its branches in Kosovo. The EU is still looking into this decision.
Most transactions in Kosovo are cash still. Particularly in minority areas cash - and dinars - are a primary currency. From my own experiences and asking others I do not know of any place in the north or Gračanica where cash isn’t used, in both dinars and euros.
But in the north it is primarily dinars even though euros are accepted everywhere. Though your change will come in dinars usually.
The euro is used in Kosovo but there is no official agreement with the EU to use it. The EU could refuse to allow Kosovo to use it but that would break the economy entirely and leave Kosovo without a currency.
Though it could turn to another local currency or even try to create its own but for the latter it doesn’t have the resources and the former would bring in a wave of other complications: for example if the Albanian Lek was used it would bring up questions of a union which is strictly prohibited in Kosovo’s constitution.
Recommendations:
One thing that has not widely spoken about in Kosovo media is the proliferation of fake money particularly in 2 Euro coins. So much so that many people and businesses will not accept 2 Euros anymore. I have 4 euros in fake money sitting on top of my refrigerator now. This is also useful background when looking at what the Central Bank of Kosovo is doing by banning the Serbian dinar.
Vučić says that he will give 7 million to the University of North Mitrovica and to schools, kindergartens and churches in Kosovo.
The German Ambassador to Kosovo’s interview with Kosovo Online. He says the Association of Serbian Municipalities is a must but also claims that those who were in the Banjska attack were not locals,, because they used rocket launchers. This is against what the locals have sad themselves and the current evidence that most of the people involved were locals. Rocket launchers, AK- 47s are easily obtained on the black market. Radoičić, the man who has taken responsibility for the act was a longtime criminal with networks throughout Europe and beyond.