Global Courant 2023-04-30 15:37:09
The Government of Kosovo has called the initiative of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly for the full opening of the bridge over the Ibër River to traffic a fair decision.
“… The decision to remove such obstacles is a fair and proper action. Kosovo belongs to all its citizens and they enjoy the right to move freely throughout its territory”, government spokesman Përparim Kryeziu told Radio Free Europe.
So far, it has not been announced how and when this decision can be implemented.
Lista Serbe, the largest party of Kosovo Serbs, emphasized that this decision “violates the Brussels agreements and directly threatens peace”.
Even the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, reacted by saying that the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, wants to “remove the Serbs” from Kosovo, adding that the Kosovar leader “wants conflicts at all costs”.
On the other hand, Miroslav Lajçak, the special envoy of the European Union for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, emphasized that now “is not the right moment” for the opening of the bridge over the Iber.
“While we are talking, in Mitrovica there is a request for the opening of the bridge and it is clear that there is no atmosphere for this”, he said, requesting that the parties respect the Ohrid agreement and the “red lines”.
The bridge over the Ibër river or “revitalization of the bridge” has been the topic of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia for the normalization of relations, which is mediated by the European Union. The parties had agreed that the bridge would be open to traffic. But, in practice this never happened and only one side was opened for pedestrians.
After the last war in Kosovo, the bridge over the river Ibër divided Mitrovica into two parts, in the southern part with an Albanian majority, and in the northern part, inhabited by a Serbian majority. Today, they are two separate municipalities.
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