On Monday 20 November, the EU Council extended the mandate of the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Ukraine until 31 May 2019.
The Council also approved a budget of €32 million for the mission for the next 18 months.
Deployed since December 2014, this consultative mission aims to strengthen and support reform in Ukrainian state agencies such as the police, other law enforcement agencies and the judicial sector, particularly the prosecutor's office. EUAM Ukraine provides strategic advice to the Ukrainian authorities and also provides training "to develop sustainable, accountable and efficient security services that strengthen the rule of law", a Council states in a press release.
The mission is currently led by Lithuanian national Kęstutis Lančinskas and is an unarmed, non-executive civilian mission with its headquarters in Kiev and regional presences in Lviv and Kharkiv. It will soon also be deployed in Odessa.
On 10 November, Lančinskas's mandate, which ran until 30 November 2017, was extended until 30 November 2018. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)