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The Assembly of the Municipality of North Mitrovica debated on Friday behind closed doors about the possibility of restoring the freedom of movement of cars across the main bridge over the river Ibër, which also marks the dividing line with the municipality of South Mitrovica.
Currently, the bridge is used only for pedestrian traffic, while it is guarded by police forces and those of the NATO peacekeeping mission.
The vice president of the municipal assembly, Nexhat Uglanin, said that he supports the opening of the bridge for coexistence between the two communities.
"We have not received any letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, nor from the Ministry of Local Government. Of course, as you know, the international community is also involved in the problem of opening the bridge because it is present. Of course, they are the competences of the Ministry of the Interior and the government through dialogue with the international community. We no longer have the right to discuss these issues, we have made the decision and the necessary steps must be taken by the government", he said.
Debates about the opening of the bridge are taking place between the reactions of the Serbian political parties in this area and the European Union's calls for this issue to be addressed within the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue in Brussels.
The largest political entity of Kosovo Serbs, which was founded and is supported by Belgrade - Lista Serbe, said a day ago that the opening of the bridge is a completely unnecessary, unacceptable and escalating action.
"We call on KFOR, EULEX and representatives of Brussels to prevent (Kosovo Prime Minister Albin) Kurti from causing another crisis and to prevent his plan to expel Serbs from Kosovo. We invite you for an immediate reaction and to publicly tell the regime in Pristina that the opening of the bridge cannot be done without the consent of the Serbs living in the north of Kosovo", the reaction says.
The European Union said today that any action affecting the two communities must be discussed as part of the talks in Brussels.
"We are very interested in preventing another crisis. There have been enough crises already and too few solutions and steps leading to expansion. The opening of the Mitrovica bridge is actually the subject of two agreements within the dialogue facilitated by the European Union from 2015 and 2016. And despite our facilitating efforts, as the European Union over the years, this bridge remains closed", said the spokesperson of the Union. European, Peter Stano.
He emphasized that "unilateral and uncoordinated steps divert attention from the main priority for both sides, which is the implementation of the agreement on the normalization of relations".
Even the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, in a response to the Voice of America, requests that all actions around the bridge be handled in the "framework of the dialogue mediated by the EU between Belgrade and Pristina, which NATO continues to support, including through the efforts of KFOR".
The Assembly of the Municipality of North Mitrovica, where the representatives of the Albanian community are the majority after the departure of the Serbian representatives from the institutions of Kosovo, decided to open this bridge in April last year.
But the decision was not implemented due to the tensions that erupted after the Albanian mayors who emerged from the elections boycotted by the Serbs, were sent to the offices of the northern municipalities with the support of the police in May of last year. Groups of Serbian citizens clashed with Kosovo police and NATO peacekeeping forces on May 29 last year, injuring over 90 KFOR members.
Since then, Western diplomacy has increased efforts to urge the parties to implement an agreement reached in Brussels and Ohrid for the normalization of relations amid concerns about the possibility of an escalation of the security situation in the region.
NATO increased the presence of peacekeeping troops in the area after the incident in September of last year when a group of armed Serbs attacked the Kosovo police killing one of its officers./ VOA
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