The issue of the dinar, the topic of talks today in Brussels

Representatives of Kosovo and Serbia are meeting today in Brussels for the next meeting within the dialogue for the normalization of relations.

The European mediators of the process will separately welcome Besnik Bislim of Kosovo and Petar Petkovic of Serbia, as leaders of their delegations.

The joint tripartite meeting is still not certain to happen.

The European Union warned a day earlier that it will increase the pressure on the two countries to implement the agreement reached a year ago for the normalization of relations.

The talks, however, may be overshadowed by the banning of the Serbian dinar in Kosovo - a topic also warned by the EU.

With a Central Bank regulation, Kosovo stopped using this currency on February 1, making the euro the only means of payment.

The issue, apart from angering Serbia, also provoked disagreements between the Government of Kosovo and the international community, since the Serbian community in Kosovo, for years, receives payments in dinars from the budget of Serbia.

Western diplomats asked Kosovo to suspend the regulation, to give affected citizens time to adapt to the new practice.

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said on Monday that agreement has been reached for, as she said, a part of the American proposal for the dinar, and added that "it would be ideal" to reach an agreement on this issue during today's meeting in Brussels.

Last week, in an interview given to Radio Evropa e Lire, the deputy assistant to the US Secretary of State, Gabriel Escobar, said that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, refused to suspend the CBK regulation, until the EU, the US and the Government of Kosovo to find a long-term solution, such as the electronic transfer of euros through the Kosovo system.

However, Petkovic, director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, dismissed Osmani's claims of compliance, calling them "lies".

Serbia insists that this issue should be resolved within the dialogue for the normalization of relations in Brussels, while for Kosovo it is technical and has to do with the country's financial integrity.

A meeting was also held at the end of February, but without any agreement. European officials said at the time that "many political questions" about the CBK regulation remain unanswered./ REL