This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 17 Apr 2008, by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann.
-
17 Apr 08
-
EU-Lex Kosovo, a major European Union initiative, faces an uncertain future following internal and external questioning of its legal basis. While Russia has attacked it as "illegal" and a "mistake", key EU countries are also considering following Spain's example in deciding not to participate in the Rule of Law mission until the legal issues are resolved.
-
Background:
The EU decided in February 2008 to deploy a 2,200 strong Rule of Law mission to Kosovo, under the name EU-Lex Kosovo.
Its deployment has already started and is expected to be completed when Kosovo's new constitution comes to force on 15 June.
The initial objective was for EU-Lex to take over from UNMIK, the civilian mission established in the Serbian province following the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 in June 1999.
The objective was highly political – for the EU to take over the post-crisis management of a territory on European soil. It had previously failed to do so in 1999 when it had to resort to NATO to stop the ethnic cleansing and acts of extreme violence by the regime of Slobodan Milosevic.
-
In the meantime, Slovenia - which holds the current EU presidency - and France (its successor) have called on Serbia not to oppose EU-Lex if it wants to join the European Union.
But such messages may well play into the hands of the Radical Party in the wake of the early elections in Serbia on 11 May.
The Serbs in northern Kosovo will vote in these elections despite the protests of the President and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, whose territory declared independence on 17 February. Serbian Prime Minister Voislav Kostunica expressed his ambition for elections to be held across the whole territory of Kosovo to give out the message that the province "still remains part of Serbia".
-
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.