http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1203150721.96
The EU's police and justice mission to Kosovo
16 February 2008, 12:12 CET
(BRUSSELS) - The European Union's justice mission launched early Saturday will
help Kosovo on its road to independence by training and mentoring police,
justice and customs officials.
Some 2,000 personnel, plus around 1,000 local staff, will make up the EULEX
Kosovo mission, a triple-track operation aimed at easing the transition from
United Nations to local rule.
However these staff will not begin flooding into Kosovo on Saturday or even as
soon as independence is declared, probably on Sunday.
An EU office was set up for the mission in April 2006, and a "planning team" of
at least 120 people has already been in place in the capital Pristina for
several weeks.
The operation will consist of a political entity to supervise the transfer of
powers from UNMIK, the UN mission that has administered Kosovo since 1999, and
an operational entity to train and mentor the local authorities.
The third track will see a European Commission component assisting long-term
reform efforts, economic development, regional integration as well as helping
the ethnic Albanian majority state down the long road to EU membership.
Over the next few days, the EU will coordinate with the United Nations on the
exact starting date of a 120-day transition period, after which the mission
will take over policing duties in Kosovo from UNMIK.
EULEX Kosovo's mission is to "assist the Kosovo institutions, judicial
authorities and law enforcement agencies in their progress towards
sustainability and accountability and in further developing and strengthening
an independent multi-ethnic justice system and multi-ethnic police and customs
service."
Headquartered in Pristina but with liaison offices planned, the team will
ensure that "these institutions are free from political interference and
adhering to internationally recognised standards and European best practices."
Germany, Italy, France and Britain are to be the main contributors to the
mission, which will also involve personnel from non-EU countries Croatia,
Norway, Turkey, Switzerland and the United States.
Only Malta will not take part, for "logistical reasons".
The length of the deployment, with a budget of 205 million euros (297 million
dollars) in the first 16 months and to be led by a French general and former
NATO commander Yves de Kermabon, has initially been set at 28 months.
However EU diplomats regularly speak of Kosovo being under "supervised
independence" for five to 10 years. In any case, the EU will review the
operation no later than six months after it is deployed.
Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith, a former NATO envoy to the Balkans, is likely to
take charge of the civilian mission, with around 75 international staff and
some 300 local employees.
Work on the project began a year ago, as the EU originally thought to deploy it
under a plan drawn up by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, but which was blocked at
the United Nations Security Council by Serbia's ally Russia.
Russia continues to claim that the EU mission is "illegal" without any new
security council mandate.
The EU is already the biggest donor to Kosovo -- it has sent more than two
billion euros to date -- and plans to allocate more resources to the new state
over the next three years than any other place in the world.
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