The President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani said on Thursday that the bridge over the Iber River in Mitrovica should be opened, but this should happen in coordination and not incite conflict with the Western allies.
She made these comments during a visit to the municipality of Vitia, about 70 kilometers south of Pristina, amid debates about the Kosovo government's intention to open the main bridge over the Iber River, which is not supported by Western diplomacy.
“We need to make sure that when it opens it remains open and not that when it opens it promotes a much larger NATO presence in it. Is it in the interest of Kosovo that we see a conflict between our police and the American soldier? I do not believe that there is an Albanian who agrees with such a thing. So let's make sure that such things don't happen, because we have no reason to have a conflict with our allies”. President Osmani said.
The government of Kosovo says that the opening of the bridge over the river that marks the dividing line between the north of Mitrovica inhabited by a majority of Serbs and the south with a majority of Albanians, would serve the free movement and is not against anyone and even less against the allies of Kosovo .
The US State Department said on Wednesday that opening the Mitrovica bridge at this time would increase the likelihood of violence and called on the Kosovo government to “not take this uncoordinated action”.
“Opening the bridge to car traffic now increases the potential for violence and puts at risk the local population as well as KFOR soldiers – including the Americans – who are working to support peace and security in Kosovo,” the spokesman's statement said. of the State Department.
President Vjosa Osmani said that the United States has never spoken against the opening of the bridge.
“But as with any security topic, they request and implore Kosovo to sit together, the institutions of Kosovo and our security allies and draw up an implementation plan together that takes into account the security assessments of both Kosovo and our allies and I assure you that in the overwhelming majority of cases they are identical because our institutions cooperate and based on these joint assessments the most favorable moment is chosen so that the issue of the bridge and its opening is a permanent success, not a momentary success but permanent”, President Osmani said.
NATO-led peacekeeping forces in Kosovo have increased their presence on the main bridge over the Iber and have called for the issue to be resolved in talks mediated by the European Union, which has warned that it will raise the issue at its next meeting. between Kosovo and Serbia, but without giving any details about the plans of any meeting.
Authorities in Pristina say that this issue has already been addressed in the Brussels agreements for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
President Osmani said that Kosovo should not ask Serbia about the opening of the bridge and it should not be accepted to discuss this issue in the Brussels dialogue.
“As for the European Union, the statements of its officials are racist, I don't believe they deserve attention from my side. I oppose in every way the discussion of the opening of the bridge in Brussels. We have nothing to ask Serbia,” she said.
The free movement agreement that was in place in 2014 made it possible for the work to unblock the bridge to begin in August 2016. The European Union invested 1.2 million euros for the revitalization of the bridge, which, however, remained closed to car traffic.
