The Government of Kosovo has called the initiative of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly for the full opening of the bridge over the Ibër River to traffic a fair decision.

After the last war in Kosovo, the bridge over the river Ibër divided Mitrovica in two parts, in the southern part with an Albanian majority, and in the northern part, with a Serbian majority.

Today, they are two separate municipalities.

“The decision to remove such obstacles is a fair and proper action. Kosovo belongs to all its citizens and they enjoy the right to move freely throughout its territory”, government spokesman Përparim Kryeziu told Radio Free Europe.

Assembly members of the North Mitrovica Municipality approved the request for the opening of the bridge on April 28.

Sixteen assemblymen of this municipality were replaced in December of last year, after the previous assemblymen resigned, as part of the collective departure of Serbs from the institutions of Kosovo in the north, in protest of Pristina’s decision to re-register cars with Serbian license plates in those of Kosovo.

So far, it has not been announced how and when this decision can be implemented.

Meanwhile, there were reactions from the Serbian side as well. Serb List, the largest party of Kosovo Serbs, emphasized that this decision “violates the Brussels agreements and directly threatens peace”.

“We want to warn that the eventual opening of the bridge will undoubtedly result in incidents in this area, this is the goal of Pristina. The bridge, where more than 1,000 ethnically motivated attacks have taken place from south to north, is a symbol of the suffering of the Serbian people, and Pristina’s aim is to expel the remaining Serbs. “, says the reaction of this party that has the support of Belgrade.

Serb List party asked KFOR, EULEX and representatives of the international community to “urgently prevent the implementation of this decision”.