On Wednesday 16 May, the head of the rule of law mission EULEX Kosovo, Alexandra Papadopoulou, presented the mission's new approach.
"This will be a new phase, a turning point. It will not be a simple reconfiguration of volume but a root and branch reform", she told MEPs from the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee.
After ten years of action under EULEX, the EU "is not abandoning Kosovo" but moving towards a new form of support, Papadopoulou stated. "The mission must be adapted to Kosovo. This country is not the country it was ten years ago. The Kosovars have taken action, but of course there are still problems and challenges and the mission must adapt to these", she said.
"Our observation, supervision and advice will be picked up by other EU instruments or actors, sometimes with the help of member states or international organisations", she stated.
The mission will also abandon its executive role in the judicial system, but will continue to offer advice and assistance. "From 30 June, there will no longer be EULEX prosecutors and judges in the Kosovan (judicial) system. We have a number of files that are not yet ripe enough for us to put before justice, so a number of these cases will be transferred to the local authorities", Papadopoulou said.
She added that the mission would continue to bring assistance on security, as it would to the special chamber in the Hague, which has to judge war crimes.
And although the mission has not always had a good reputation due to the allegations of corruption, it would seem that the Kosovars now fear its departure. "Now that we are gradually going to withdraw, everyone is afraid of the gap it will leave. We try to be reassuring saying that the EU is there, the special representative is there, and EULEX too in a different form", she said. "We will transfer know-how in collaboration with the special representative, ensuring a departure that will be orderly", Papadopoulou added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)