Director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Marko Djuric stated that the Peace Park built by the Kosovska Mitrovica Serbs will remain until further notice on the bridge over the Ibar River which connects the northern (Serb-populated) part and the southern (ethnic Albanian) part of the city in northern KiM.
It has been agreed that the Peace Park should stay where it is and the EU will perform a visual assessment of the bridge, Djuric told Tanjug after the meeting with Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Edita Tahiri in Brussels, adding that the talks in the search for a long-term solution concerning the belt area in the vicinity of the bridge would continue over the weeks to come.
Djuric noted that the meeting with the Pristina delegation was marked by a better atmosphere than the previous one, despite the argument at the beginning of the meeting concerning the distribution of the seats for representatives of northern KiM municipalities which was eventually resolved by organising a round-table debate.
Djuric said that he is surprised by the statement Tahiri made after the meeting when she said that it has been agreed that the Peace Park should be removed. He underscored that the outcome of the meeting was exactly the opposite.
In the weeks to come, we will collaborate with the provincial government as soon as it gets constituted and discuss the future of overall political relations in the province, Djuric said and added that he is certain that the talks will cover a number of details such as the issues discussed in Brussels on Tuesday.
He noted that the Tuesday meeting in Brussels focused primarily on the alleviation of tensions concerning the belt area around the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica, and called on all relevant bodies in the field to refrain from unilateral actions and instead work on alleviation of the tensions.
Djuric and Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Edita Tahiri already met in Brussels on July 11 to discuss the Peace Park, which was set up by the Serbs in the middle of the main bridge over the Ibar River on June 18, after they removed the roadblocks they put up three years earlier to protect themselves against the attacks by Albanian extremists.
However, even after ten hours of EU-facilitated talks, no agreement was reached.
After that meeting, Djuric told reporters that the works on the Peace Park should continue, while Tahiri said that the park should be removed from the bridge as it limits the freedom of movement.
“The Peace Park is intended to bring about the normalization of relations and to restore mutual trust,” Djuric said.
Technical assessment of condition of Mitrovica bridge agreed
Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said on Tuesday after a meeting of the working group dealing with the issues relating to the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica that the sides agreed that a technical assessment of the condition of the bridge should be carried out, and that they should continue working on a joint way forward in the coming weeks.
“The Working Group looked into the overall legislative framework in accordance with the Brussels Agreement and exchanged views on ways that the EU can assist whatever projects for the bridge the two sides will agree,“ Kocijancic noted.
The participants agreed to continue working on a joint way forward in the coming weeks, she added.
“As a first step the Working Group agreed to the EU Office/EUSR contracting a technical assessment of the condition of the Mitrovica bridge,“ she underscored.
“We urged all sides to continue to refrain from any action which is not agreed with the other side on Mitrovica main bridge and the other bridges,” reads the release issued by Kocijancic.
