The information portal "ntv.al" published a video on Facebook on February 3, with the caption "France attacks Albin Kurti/ Removing the Dinar, a provocation."
Hibrid.info has verified that the video material is a report of the French state's statement on the decision of the Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK), which foresees the use of only one currency (euro) for payments in the country.
Based on research by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the word "provocation" or anything similar was not used in the statement.
Link to the video material published by the "ntv.al" portal on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=413661851088574
Using search engines, the official statement of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France was found, to which the portal "ntv.al" referred in the above reporting (see here).
Official statement from the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, translated into Albanian:
"France is concerned by the entry into force of the Central Bank of Kosovo's decision to limit all cash transactions in the country to euros, starting from February 1, 2024.
This decision, which was made in a hasty and uncoordinated manner, will affect the daily life of the Serbian community in Kosovo, which is heavily dependent on payments from Serbia made in Serbian dinars.
"Given the lack of alternative solutions at this time, France calls for the immediate suspension of this measure, in order to allow for a sufficient transition period. We call on the Kosovo authorities to find a solution through negotiations within the framework of the EU-facilitated dialogue."
After verification, hibrid.info found that in the statement in question, in none of the paragraphs, was the word "provocation" specifically used.
To make it even clearer, hibrid.info has sought the broad meaning of the word "provocation" in order to understand whether the French state's statement contains statements that imply that the CBK's decision was qualified as a provocation.
On the pages of two English universities, dedicated to the vocabulary of the English language, it is indicated that the word "provocation" means an action or statement that is deliberately made to anger someone (see here and hereHibrid.info has found that in this statement, the official Paris did not assess that the CBK's decision is intended to incite any reaction that would be considered provoked.
Analyze:
The claim that France has judged the decision taken by the CBK, which foresees the sole use of the euro currency for payments in the country, as a provocation, is not correct.
Hibrid.info has confirmed that in the press release on this issue, the French state described the CBK's decision as hasty and uncoordinated, which could affect the lives of Serbs in Kosovo.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Manipulation of facts".
Rating:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.