EU asks Kosovo to delay requiring ethnic Serbians to use Euros

ZENEL ZHINIPOTOKU and LLAZAR SEMINI
Associated Press

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The European Union on Thursday called on Kosovo to postpone an effort to force ethnic Serbian-dominated areas to adopt the same currency as the rest of the country, as rules that would block use of the Serbian dinar went into effect. Most of Kosovo uses the Euro, even though the country is not part of the EU, but parts of its north populated mostly by ethnic Serbs continue to use the dinar. Many rely on the government of Serbia for financial support, often delivered in dinars in cash. On Thursday, Kosovo’s government put into effect rules that ban banks and other financial institutions in the area from using other currencies in local transactions. Kosovo’s Central Bank had issued the new rules last summer.