The Serbian National Council (SNV) has warned that any change to the course of the Ibar River would have serious consequences for both Serb and Albanian communities, following remarks by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić about potentially redirecting the river toward the Novi Pazar basin.
The council said Thursday that Serbia could potentially build a new hydropower plant on the Ibar above Ribariće, near the village of Batrage in the municipality of Tutin, but argued that such a project should be considered based on Serbia’s energy needs rather than as an act of retaliation against Prishtina.
According to the SNV, changing the Ibar’s course would significantly affect Albanians because the river supplies drinking water to Prishtina, Vushtrri, Skenderaj and South Mitrovica. It would also affect Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo, including North Mitrovica, Zvečan and Zubin Potok.
“The change in the course of the Ibar River would certainly greatly affect Albanians, but also Serbs, because the same water is used for the needs of the municipalities of North Mitrovica, Zvečan and Zubin Potok,” the council said.
The SNV described Vučić’s proposal to redirect the Ibar toward the Novi Pazar basin as overly ambitious, comparing it to previous threats and displays of military readiness toward Prishtina.
The council also criticized what it described as the dismissive reaction of Albanian-language media in Prishtina, while questioning whether Belgrade currently has the political capacity to carry out such a project.
Instead, the SNV argued that if Vučić genuinely wants to address the issue, Serbia should seek, through Prishtina and its “friends in the European Union,” the establishment of a Serbian management structure within the Ibar-Lepenc water system.
The council noted that the broader Ibar-Lepenc hydrosystem was constructed by Serbia and argued that, if Prishtina rejected such a proposal, Belgrade should consider withdrawing from its energy agreement with Kosovo authorities.
The SNV nevertheless expressed doubt that Vučić would take such a step, arguing that his political position was more important to him than what it described as the struggle for Kosovo and Metohija.
The statement concluded with a strong political criticism of Vučić, accusing his Kosovo policy during his years in power of failing politically, economically and nationally and calling for his departure.
The dispute over the Ibar is particularly sensitive because the river and the Ibar-Lepenc system are essential to water supply, agriculture, energy production and industrial activity on both sides of the Kosovo-Serbia divide.
