EU's Stano: Lajcak invited Belgrade and Pristina reps to meet on Feb. 27, Bislimi's behavior unacceptable

Stano added that Lajcak's invitation letter did not specify who should represent Belgrade and Pristina at the meeting and added that it was up to the parties to decide on that

A spokesperson for the European Commission, Peter Stano, confirmed today that the EU's special envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, has invited Belgrade and Pristina to a meeting on February 27 in Brussels, in order to discuss the decree of the central bank in Pristina to ban the use of the Serbian dinar, and referred to the behavior of the chief negotiator of Pristina Besnik Bislimi as unacceptable - after the accusations he made against Lajcak.

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"We hope that Mr. Bislimi will appreciate the efforts instead of unfairly accusing EU officials. Such behavior is unacceptable," Stano said in a written statement, which he forwarded to some media, as reported by Pristina-based Reporteri, and quoted by Tanjug.

Stano added that Lajcak's letter of invitation did not specify who should represent Belgrade and Pristina at the meeting and stated that it was left to the parties to decide on that, adds Pristina-based Koha.

"Last week, High Representative Josep Borrell had meetings in Munich with President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, and Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, where this issue was discussed. As a result of this meeting, the special envoy, Miroslav Lajcak, invited the two parties to come to Brussels on February 27," Stano stated, according to this.

This was the spokesperson's way of responded to Bislimi's accusations directed at Lajcak, saying that he violates the principles he himself had set, according to which no topic in the dialogue can make it on the agenda without prior agreement of the two parties.

Bislimi said yesterday that he had received an invitation from Brussels for a meeting next week regarding the decree of the central bank in Pristina, which abolishes the use of the Serbian dinar, but that he refused to participate because, as he said, "the issue of the dinar is not part of the dialogue."

Bislimi criticized Lajcak for "violating the principles" and scheduling a meeting without prior agreement with the parties.

Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic previously told RTS, when asked if he was waiting for an invitation from Brussels, that he was waiting for an invitation for someone to go and talk to them (Pristina) - but that there was nothing to talk about, because, as he pointed out, the prime minister of Pristina's provisional institutions, Albin Kurti, won't talk about ZSO (Community of Serb Municipalities), nor about the dinar, while they're lying about a three-month suspension of the implementation of the decree, when in fact there is no suspension, because Pristina is stopping shipments of the dinar (for the Serb community in Kosovo and Metohija) on the administrative line.

According to a decree adopted by the central bank in Pristina, as of February 1, the only currency in which cash payments can be made in Kosovo is the euro, which means that the Serbian dinar is banned.

The regulation jeopardizes the survival of Serbs in Kosovo, who receive their income, including social welfare payments, from Serbia, in dinars.

(Telegraf.rs)