Questions grow over EU mission in Kosovo
Reuters - Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:47am EDT

By Mark John

BRUSSELS, April 28 (Reuters) - Doubts are growing over a European Union goal to take over policing in Kosovo from the United Nations in June, with no handover agreed as yet, diplomats said on Monday.

The EU's 2,200-strong law and justice mission aims to smooth over turbulence from Kosovo's February 17 secession from Serbia.

The EU insists the mission will go ahead but acknowledges its plans are being reviewed as Russia, an ally of Serbia, uses its weight on the U.N. Security Council to prevent a transition of powers to the EU mission.

"There are a lot of doubts, more questions than answers," said one EU diplomat, citing a possible delay to the June target date for full deployment. "A number (of EU states) think the plan should be readjusted, to use an understatement.

Diplomats say that if the U.N. mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), stays on the ground after June, it would cement a de facto "soft partition": "UNMIKland" in Serb areas in the north, "EULEXland" in the rest of the Albanian-majority state.

Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, stressed preparations were going ahead and the mission's goals were unchanged, despite a review of plans.

"This is a practical adaptation to a process of deployment that continues," she said.

"CONFUSION"

UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker said UNMIK would retain a presence while the existing U.N. resolution remained valid.

"As long as resolution 1244 is in place, we will always have a U.N. responsibility for Kosovo, and the exact shape and form of that U.N. mission is yet to be decided," he was quoted as saying on the BBC website.

The EU operation is due to mentor and monitor Kosovo police, judiciary and prison officials and have anti-riot units. The bloc still aims to assume executive powers by mid-June.

A source in the Kosovo government told Reuters "the international community is in confusion" about to what do next.

"The EU is confused because not all members have recognised Kosovo, and the U.N. is under pressure from permanent members who opposed independence or did not recognised it," the source said.

"There's no clarity, everything's at the level of ideas. But ideas must be clarified before June 15, when Kosovo's constitution comes into effect, or we'll have a legal collision between the U.N. administration and Kosovo's institutions."

The source added Kosovo was worried that there would be no firm decisions even after mid-June, but "everything would be just pencilled in, so each side can interpret things in its own way and pretend to be satisfied." EU foreign ministers are to discuss the Balkans at a meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday but diplomats doubt there will be much debate on the Kosovo mission.

"There is a sensitivity to discuss this too publicly before the May 11 (Serbian) elections, especially as regards the north," one EU diplomat said.

The parliamentary election is seen as a crucial test of whether Belgrade takes a pro-European or nationalist direction and may be swayed by tensions surrounding the ethnic Serb minority in northern Kosovo. (Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander, Shaban Buza and Ellie Tzortzi; Editing by Stephen Weeks)

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