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A European Union spokesman said on Friday that any decision on any construction along the Ibar River – which divides Mitrovica into an Albanian-populated south and a Serb-populated north – must be taken carefully and in an inclusive manner, with the full involvement of all affected communities.
Kosovo authorities intend to build two bridges on both sides of the main bridge over the Ibar River.
The Vetëvendosje Movement, led by Kosovo's acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, published a photograph on Thursday showing what these two bridges would look like.
As seen in the published photographs, the new bridges would be built on the left and right sides of the main bridge, which is part of the Agreement between Kosovo and Serbia on freedom of movement, reached in Brussels as part of the dialogue for the normalization of relations.
"The EU is not aware of this project nor is it involved in it," the bloc's spokesperson said in a response to Radio Free Europe.
The construction of two new bridges over the Ibar River is planned based on a memorandum of cooperation between the Ministry of Infrastructure of the Government of Kosovo and the municipalities of North and South Mitrovica.
On Wednesday, the acting Minister of Infrastructure, Liburn Aliu, announced that he signed a “memorandum of support for infrastructure projects between the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and the two municipalities with the Mayor of the Municipality of North Mitrovica, Erden Atiq, and the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of South Mitrovica, Ariana Tahiri, in the presence of the Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi.
He said this is being done "for a more connected, functional and better city for all citizens."
The Serbian List - the largest party of Kosovo Serbs that enjoys the support of official Belgrade - reacted a day ago, among other things, regarding the construction of these two bridges, saying that Kurti "is rapidly and without any concealment implementing the plan for the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian people from the territory of Kosovo."
The main bridge over the Ibar River – which divides Mitrovica into the Albanian-majority southern part and the Serb-majority northern part – is open only to pedestrians.
The announcement by the Kosovo Government in July last year that it plans to open this bridge to traffic raised tensions and caused reactions from the international community.
The NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, is based at the bridge. KFOR told Radio Free Europe at the time that any decision to open the bridge should be made within the framework of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, which is being conducted through the European Union.
In the past, the European Union also recalled that the issue of opening the bridge was the topic of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia for the normalization of relations and that for this reason all decisions should be made within the dialogue with the participation of official delegations from Pristina and Belgrade./ REL
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