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29th Mar 2024

EU admits Kosovo mission delays

The EU on Monday (26 May) admitted there may be some delays in the deployment of its mission to Kosovo, but insisted they would not be "dramatic."

The bloc's 27 member states agreed in December to send a mission – known as EULEX – to Kosovo to monitor police and judicial work there.

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  • "EULEX will continue to move to Kosovo," even if there are "little delays," says Mr Rupel. (Photo: OSCE)

It started being deployed in February and it was hoped that the process would be finalised by 15 June – the date when Kosovo's constitution takes effect, establishing the powers of its government after 9 years of United Nations administration.

But question marks over the divisions of power between the UN, the EU and the local authorities, as well as over the mission's legal basis, seem likely to delay the process.

"I believe EULEX could be operative on the field after the summer – September and October," Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said after a meeting of the EU's foreign ministers in Brussels, according to Reuters.

His French counterpart Bernard Kouchner also admitted that it was still not clear how exactly the EU mission and the UN would cooperate on the ground, and that this was likely to delay its deployment.

"When we have found a good way of operating with the United Nations, it [the deployment] will go ahead," he said, as there are still problems that are "not completely solved".

For his part, Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel – whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency – remained optimistic.

"Our action [regarding EULEX] is constructive and successful … EULEX will continue to move to Kosovo. There may be some little delays, but nothing dramatic," he said at a press conference.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on 17 February and has so far been recognised by 42 countries worldwide – 20 of which are EU states.

Bosnia to sign pre-accession deal in June

On Monday, the bloc's foreign ministers also announced that a pre-accession deal with Bosnia and Herzegovina would be signed on 16 June, after a two-month delay mainly due to translation issues.

The EU had initially said that the signing might take place in April, following Bosnia's approval of a long-awaited police reform, but then delayed the date due to "technical problems."

"Complications have been quite considerable regarding the number of languages" in which the text of around 1,000 pages had to be translated, Mr Rupel said.

But "we have concluded that we should sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) next month, on 16 June," he added.

Bosnia is the only Western Balkan country – together with Kosovo – not to have signed an SAA yet.

Meanwhile, the EU also announced the official opening of a dialogue on visa liberalisation with Sarajevo, with the ultimate goal being visa-free travel for all Bosnian citizens.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

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