Hovenier: QUINT and NATO do not support the opening of the Ibri bridge at this time

The United States ambassador in Pristina, Jeffrey Hovenier, said on Friday that the QUINT countries and NATO do not support the opening of the Ibri bridge in Mitrovica at this time.

He made these comments after a meeting of representatives of the QUINT countries with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in Pristina.

"Representatives of France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the United States, together with the EU ambassador in Kosovo, met with Prime Minister Kurti today to inform him that our governments in consultation with NATO cannot support no change in the current status of the Mitrovica Bridge at this time," Hovenier told reporters after the meeting.

On July 18, Kurti said that his Government intends to open the main bridge over the Ibër River, and that this action is not against anyone.

"No one can say that this is not a good and right thing, but we want the law to be applied, freedom of movement to be respected, but also to have peace and security for everyone," said Kurti last month. passed.

The bridge is currently only open for pedestrians, although, as part of the dialogue, it has been agreed to open it for traffic as well.

Italian soldiers of KFOR, the NATO mission in Kosovo, are patrolling the bridge over the Iber, while members of the Kosovo Police are also nearby.

Therefore, from the civilian sector in Kosovo, they say that the key factor in the opening of the bridge is, in fact, KFOR, because it must move its soldiers, that is, give its consent.

The European Union, meanwhile, has said that the issue of opening the Ibri bridge should be a topic of dialogue with Serbia.

This was opposed by the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, who declared on Thursday that "such a thing would be a serious violation of sovereignty, territorial integrity and constitutionality in our country".

"Vuçiqi has nothing to do with the question of when the bridges will be opened for traffic in the Republic of Kosovo. The only dialogue that should take place is the one within Kosovo, between our institutions and our security partners [especially with NATO]" , Osmani said.

Discussions about the bridge have been updated in recent months, after calls to the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly for the bridge to be completely opened for traffic. This municipality in the north of Kosovo is led by Erden Atiq from the ruling party, Vetëvendosje Movement.

The Speaker of the Municipal Assembly of North Mitrovica, Nexhad Uglanin, said that the implementation of the decision on the issue of the bridge belongs to the central authorities and security institutions.

Officials of this Assembly even said that the opening of the bridge is also under the jurisdiction of South Mitrovica and the peacekeeping mission of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Kosovo , KFOR./rel