Brussels, 13/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The announced restructuring of the international presence in Kosovo will allow the deployment of the rule of law mission of the EU (EULEX) under the legal umbrella of the UN. In a report to the Security Council, which was also sent to the Kosovar and Serb authorities on 12 June, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, explained that the EU will "gradually take on increased operational responsibilities of international policing and justice, as well as the customs, throughout the territory of Kosovo". The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) will continue to carry out operational control via "supervision and control" duties, making arrangements to allow Kosovo to take part in international agreements and facilitating dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade on issues of common interest.
This announcement, which comes on the eve of the entry into force of the Kosovar constitution (scheduled for 15 June), paves the way for the deployment of the EULEX mission to the country. This deployment, initially scheduled to come after a transition phase of 120 days after Kosovo's independence (proclaimed on 17 February this year), is still opposed by Russia, which feels that in the absence of the approval of the Security Council, the European mission is illegal. The proposed formula may, nonetheless, help to overturn Russia's veto at the Security Council, as this transfer of competencies will come under the mandate of Resolution 1244. However, "unless the Security Council decides otherwise, Resolution 1244 will remain the legal framework for the mandate of the UN" in Kosovo, explains Ban Ki-moon. Any change of this order would require unanimity and is, therefore, highly unlikely.
Even though the general framework remains that of the UN, the main thing is that the chain of command will be entirely European and that the EULEX mission is deployed throughout Kosovo, stressed the Council of the EU. Even though Russia feels that these changes are "scandalous" and is threatening to oblige the head of UNMIK, Joachim Rücker of Germany, to step down, the Slovenian Presidency of the EU welcomes the report of the UN Secretary General. "It is in the interests of the international community that there is no security gap and that an international presence in Kosovo is assured", said a Slovenian diplomat on Friday 13 June. This decision will allow a gradual deployment of the EULEX mission to be phased in slowly over the whole of the country (at the moment, 300 people out of the planned 2000 on the ground), he added, without specifying a date for full deployment. (A.B./trans.fl)