Despite the previous Assembly's decision being annulled, street name signs changed in North Mitrovica

Just a few days before the snap parliamentary elections in Kosovo, signs bearing the names "Zoran Djindjic" and "Isa Boletini" were installed near the roundabout at the entrance to North Mitrovica. Acting Minister of Spatial Planning Fitore Pacolli stated that 88 streets in North Mitrovica had been given new names and that the new names were selected in cooperation with the previous administration in North Mitrovica.

According to her, a committee spent two months intensively working on the issue of the new street names.

"It was voted on in the Assembly, and now we are installing them because this is a technical procedure," she said.

Asked by reporters where North Mitrovica Mayor Milan Radojevic was, Pacolli said that this was a project of the Ministry of Spatial Planning.

"Whatever project I carry out, I do it as minister, not with the municipality, because the municipality has already adopted this decision," she said, adding that, as minister, she is obliged to complete the technical part of the work.

Commenting on the fact that the decision to rename the streets had been adopted by the previous municipal administration led by Erden Atiq, without Serbian participation, Pacolli said that the Assembly had respected the wishes of the citizens of North Mitrovica, adding that it is important to respect the wishes of every citizen.

"It was the decision of the Serbs here not to participate in the elections, and they got an Albanian mayor. Now they have a Serbian mayor," she said, noting that both Serbs and Albanians live in North Mitrovica.

According to her, the residents of North Mitrovica were familiar with the project.

"The people who live in Mitrovica, here in North Mitrovica, know about the project and were informed about it. The Assembly worked on it last year together with the citizens of North Mitrovica," Pacolli said.

She also referred to the new street names, saying that they include the names of Serbian writers, actors, and other well-known figures. Pacolli also noted that the timing of the street renaming was not connected to the elections, but rather that the ministry was simply continuing to carry out its work. According to her, accusations that she is participating in a political campaign have also come from other parts of Kosovo, which she also denied.

"We are doing our job. The Assembly adopted the decision to change the names because residents here were not receiving postal deliveries," she explained.

Responding to a question about whether any street in South Mitrovica would be named after a Serb, Pacolli said that municipal committees decide which notable figures they wish to name streets after, adding that streets in different parts of Kosovo have been named after people of various ethnic backgrounds who contributed to the well-being and unity of citizens.

"In different cities, there are streets named after Serbs who are respected among Albanians as well," Pacolli said.

It should be recalled that on May 23 last year, the Executive Director of the Kosovo Cadastral Agency, Avni Ahmeti, visited all four municipalities in northern Kosovo and held separate meetings with the then-mayors and relevant teams. On that occasion, the "full commitment of both sides" to establishing an address system in those municipalities was formalized.

At the time, our portal published an analysis in which interviewees said that the Serbian street names in North Mitrovica would inevitably be changed and described the move as part of the historical revisionism that has been present in Kosovo since 1999.

On August 25, 2025, the then-Municipal Assembly of North Mitrovica adopted a decision to rename 87 streets, replacing Serbian names with Albanian ones, including some of the city's main streets.

Following the October local elections and after the newly elected authorities took office, the Municipal Assembly of North Mitrovica adopted a decision on January 30 of this year annulling the previously adopted decisions on street naming in North Mitrovica.