Kosovar police on August 5 shut down at least nine branches of the Post of Serbia near the northern border with bitter rival Serbia, prompting angry responses from Belgrade and ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.
Veton Elshani, a police official for Kosovo’s northern region, told RFE/RL that three facilities in North Mitrovica, three in Leposavic, two in Zvecan, and one in Zubin Potok were closed.
Elshani said the offices were operating without a license and without registering with proper Kosovar agencies.
The European Union, which has attempted to help Kosovo and Serbia to normalize relations, criticized the move by Kosovo and called on Pristina to reconsider the action.
“The European Union considers today’s closure of nine Post of Serbia branches in the north of Kosovo by the Kosovo authorities a unilateral and uncoordinated step, which violates agreements reached under the EU-facilitated Dialogue,” a statement said.
“Unilateral and uncoordinated actions cannot offer solutions to this or any other issue that belongs to the normalization process between Kosovo and Serbia. Closing existing services of Kosovo Serbs, without any new prior agreed arrangement, will further negatively affect the daily lives and living conditions of this community,” it added.
The United States, which has been one of Kosovo’s leading supporters but which has also criticized the government over actions regarding its Serb minority, also assailed the move.
“The U.S. government is deeply disappointed by the unilateral, uncoordinated actions taken by the government of Kosovo against branches of Serbian post offices in the north of Kosovo,” said a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Pristina.
Kosovo’s actions “put Kosova[r] citizens and KFOR soldiers at greater risk, unnecessarily escalate regional tensions, and undermine Kosovo’s reputation as a reliable international partner,” it added, referring to NATO's peacekeeping troops in Kosovo.
The move comes after Kosovar authorities in May closed several postal savings banks in the region, claiming they were being used by ethnic Serbs to receive salaries from Serbia and conduct payments in Serbian dinars, which were banned in Kosovo at the beginning of the year.
Serb List, the dominant Serbian political party in Kosovo, condemned the action, saying that it "violates the agreements reached in Brussels in 2015 under the auspices of the European Union.”
"By doing so, the entire dialogue and its legacy are annulled, and the European Union is undermining its already weak authority and reputation that it has in the eyes of the Serbian people," Serb List said in a statement.
Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, called the Kosovar police action "illegal" and accused Prime Minister Albin Kurti of "directly provoking a war conflict."
Belgrade, which has never acknowledged Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence, still pays many ethnic Serbs at institutions in Serb-dominated parts of the country – where an estimated 120,000 ethnic Serbs still live -- in dinars.
Many also hold their pensions and get child allowances in dinars.
SEE ALSO: EU Raises Concerns Over Kosovo's Move Banning Dinar Use, Urges 'Sufficient' TransitionThe work of the Post has been hampered since February 1 following the decision of the Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK) to declare the euro the only currency for cash payments.
The CBK justified the move by saying it has a "legal obligation" to regulate the financial system, especially an issue like the currency, which "has remained unregulated for a very long time."
The international community has criticized the decision, saying it did not offer enough alternatives for local Serbs. The EU urged a longer transition period in the move away from the dinar.
Even though it is not a member of the EU or its currency zone, Kosovo unilaterally adopted the euro in 2002 to help bring monetary stability and to simplify and reduce transaction costs inside and outside the country.