Important Symbolic Issue

BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC/DS

Over the past few weeks, a key issue in the Belgrade-Pristina relations has been an initiative to open the main bridge over the Ibar River, dividing Kosovska Mitrovica into a Serb-dominated northern half and the Albanian south since 1999. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced in mid-July that the bridge would be opened to traffic, a move condemned not only by Belgrade, but also the United States, the European Union (EU), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Kurti’s motives to raise the issue right now vary, but an important one is to win over voters ahead of parliamentary elections due in six months.