When Deputy Director of the Kosovo Police, Mr. Elshani, warned a few days ago that the Ibri Bridge would be opened, I realized how far removed I was from understanding the reality of Kosovo. The Ibri Bridge closed for vehicles and cars?! The Ibri Bridge guarded by police on both sides?! How could this happen? Honestly, I thought that bridge was already open. This impression was created by the visits of Prime Minister Kurti, President Osmani, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Sveçla, and many other authorities of Kosovo. Also, the presence of Kosovo police in the northern municipalities had given me the impression that in that part of the country, people have been moving freely or almost freely for the last two years. How did they get to the north? Or are they superheroes, flying like Batman?!
In 2014, when Chancellor Angela Merkel went to northern Kosovo, she demanded the dismantling of Serbia’s parallel institutions in the north. However, a few months ago, we learned that these institutions were still active. Then, when the Kosovo government closed them in several Serb-majority municipalities and even in Peja, Brussels was calling out, “These issues should be resolved through dialogue!” Meaning, ten years after Merkel’s visit, Brussels was still insisting that the parallel institutions remain active and present. At that time, Merkel also requested that the Ibri Bridge be opened to connect the two parts of the country. But after a decade, nothing has moved!
In October 2019, the Mini-Schengen initiative was founded. Meanwhile, Vučić, Rama, and Zaev were asking Kosovo to join this Mini-Schengen and later the Open Balkan. With the promise of free movement for the citizens of the Western Balkans. But the initiator of this initiative, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, still today calls for the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo not to move freely even within this republic’s territory! His spokesman in northern Kosovo, Rakić, said that “if the Ibri Bridge opens, there will be destabilization!” What madness and hypocrisy at the same time?! Open Balkans with blocked bridges! Why didn’t someone ask Rama to mediate the opening of the Ibri Bridge before making the request for Kosovo’s participation in Open Balkan?! Noooo! The twin brother in Belgrade must not be angered!
Now, Albanians, and I firmly believe also Serbs in Kosovo, want to be free. To move freely throughout the entire territory of the country. Even in the northern municipalities. But this Rakić, who believes he “represents the Serbs of Kosovo,” says Nooooo! The bridge in question cannot be opened. So, he demands the isolation of a territory in the heart of Europe. Meanwhile, this Europe of Brussels, which is concerned about freedom, says that dialogue is needed, dialogue is needed! Do not act unilaterally! Do not risk stability! And no one asks these bureaucrats the fundamental question: in which part of Europe is stability endangered by the free movement of people and goods?! In which corner of the world do bridges serve to divide people, for you to defend this division in Kosovo?! In which country in the world does a neighboring state threaten with war if a bridge is opened for free movement?!
Oh, God! Brussels bureaucrats have become more Serbian than the Serbs in power in Belgrade! Instead of Europeanizing the Balkans, they have Balkanized themselves. They no longer care that people have immediate needs, want to move freely, want to work, travel, and make their daily lives easier. But in Brussels and other capitals, they simply do not want to anger the barbarians in the government of Belgrade!
The Kosovo government is very late in its action to open the Ibri Bridge. This action should have been completed long ago, perhaps before the elections that produced Albanian mayors in the northern municipalities. The Kosovo government, its institutions, including the opposition, should unite firmly and with one voice oppose the Brussels bureaucracy, which produces Serbian instability and tyranny in Kosovo. It is clear that Serbia is still in Kosovo because Brussels demands and supports this presence! Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Albania should give up his role as editor-in-chief of the news on Albanian TV, where the “risk of regional destabilization” is echoed if the Ibri Bridge is opened! Bridges have always been built to unite people and territories, not to divide them!
