“The construction of the bridge will proceed through the southern access road. The bridge will be open to all traffic on January 20, 2017.”
This was the European Union’s statement in 2017 following the publication of the report on the Implementation of the Mitrovica Bridge Agreement.
However, the bridge remains closed.
While the European Union has called for the issue of the bridge to be discussed at the negotiation table in Brussels, former diplomat Sylë Ukshini finds this request inappropriate.
“The EU surprises me when it is to meet Vucic’s demands, from another state. I would ask the EU, with what agreement did it recognize the passports of illegal, non-parallel structures of another state? This seems to me to have crossed a red line, and I have the impression that no one will agree to it,” said Ukshini.
According to the international relations professor, Kosovo is paying an unfair price in this situation.
“For me, if KFOR were to place a line on the waters of the Lumbardh River in Mitrovica, I think that would be a de facto division waiting to be implemented in a legislative and legal sense, along with the association. In diplomacy, those who are inconsistent or naive end up paying, and Kosovo is paying an unfair price,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi also stated on Wednesday that the decision to open the bridge is not unilateral.
Bislimi wrote that a QUINT partner had added the request for technical inspections. After fulfilling these two additional requests, Bislimi says the EU is now threatening Kosovo with measures if it opens the bridge to vehicle traffic.
“During his last visit to Kosovo on June 19, when we discussed the Mitrovica bridge, Lajcak said that if Kosovo does not prefer to discuss this issue again in Brussels, he recommends internal discussions with local Serbs in the north regarding potential security implications and their concerns. A QUINT partner added the request for a technical inspection. We have followed these two recommendations. Now the EU is threatening Kosovo if it implements the EU-mediated agreement and additional recommendations,” said Bislimi.
Political scientist Fidan Ukaj also does not see the discussion of the bridge in dialogue as reasonable.
“Only a 2023 report mentions the possibility of moving the issue of the bridge into the dialogue process. This is now being repeated, and I think it would be a grave mistake for Kosovo’s institutions to allow the process of opening the bridge to be shifted because then proposals from Serbia would only be about not opening the bridge, and consequently, the bridge would never open,” said Ukaj.
President Vjosa Osmani Sadriu shares the same stance that this issue should not be discussed with Serbia.
On Wednesday, Germany’s ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, also came out against the opening of the bridge, calling for the avoidance of unilateral decisions.