Lajcak: Ibar Bridge Should Be Included in EU Mediated Dialogue

Miroslav Lajcak (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

European Union Special Envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak said on Aug. 14 that the issue of re-opening the bridge on the Ibar between the southern and northern parts of Kosovska Mitrovica must be discussed within the EU-mediate dialogue and that forcing a decision on the matter would not help normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

“Allegations that the EU is against opening the bridge or has changed its position are misleading,” Lajcak wrote on X, insisting that “[t]he EU has repeatedly stressed that the issue of the Mitrovica bridge must be discussed in the EU-facilitated Dialogue.”

He went on to say that “[i]mposing a decision against the will of affected citizens does not contribute to normalizing relations” and that “[g]ood governance understands the sensitivities of the minority.”

A symbol of Mitrovica’s division and the de facto border between the city’s Serb-dominated north and Albanian-majority south, the Ibar bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic for over 20 years. Now, Pristina is pushing to re-open it, citing a decision passed in April 2023 by the Northern Mitrovica administration – which Serbs withdrew from two years ago.

Meanwhile, the international community, EU, U.S., KFOR, Serbian authorities and Kosovo Serbs are demanding that the matter be included in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, which Lajcak again echoed by concluding: “We will discuss how to implement the agreement on opening the bridge at the next meeting in Brussels.”