Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

UN begins Kosovo handover to EU

  • Serbs see the move as a de facto recognition of the new Kosovo state (Photo: Pim de Kuijer)

The UN has begun the handover of office space and vehicles to the EU's "EULEX" police and civilian administration team in Kosovo, amid Serbian and Russian complaints that the move does not have a legal mandate.

"The technical agreement gives UNMIK [the United Nations Mission in Kosovo]...the green light for transferring assets to us," EULEX spokeswoman Karin Limdal told AFP, after the two sides signed a memorandum on the transfer on Monday (18 August).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The move is part of an informal "reconfiguration" of the UN team announced by UN head Ban Ki Moon in June in the absence of a UN security council resolution on EU-supervised Kosovo independence, which was blocked by Russia and China.

In line with the Ban Ki Moon plan, the EU will work under a UN "legal umbrella" alongside UNMIK for an unspecified period of time, with some 300 EULEX officials already in Kosovo amid plans to deploy the full 2,200-strong staff by the end of the year.

The UN has run Kosovo since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaign stopped a Serb crackdown on the majority ethnic Albanian population.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in early 2008 in a move recognised by 20 out of 27 EU states but fiercely opposed by Serbia, which is seeking a legal opinion on the move from the International Court of Justice.

Serb authorities say the creeping takeover of UNMIK by the EU shores up the de facto Kosovo state, while Russia has in the past few months cited the Kosovo "precedent" to justify its strong support for breakaway republics in Georgia.

"As with every similar provocation, this technical move cannot be ignored, and the government will submit a protest to the UN security council. You can't go about it [the EULEX transfer] this way," Serbia's top Kosovo official, Oliver Ivanovic, told the B92 news agency.

"Brussels plans to have EULEX enter Kosovo through that process. We are aware of this, and it is illegal," Russia's ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Konuzin, said in an interview with the Politika newspaper. "Russia will give [Serbia] the most energetic support in this."

"The latest bloody events [in Georgia], unfortunately, only proved us right," he added, when asked if Kosovo had enflamed Georgian separatists' calls for independence. "It is not ruled out that the Kosovo precedent will echo in other regions of the world as well."

Finnish PM: Russia preparing for 'long conflict with West'

Finland, which shares a border with Russia, has cautioned about the danger of a Russian attack in coming years. Russia is not "invincible" but "self-satisfaction is no longer an option," Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo said.

EU Commission proposes opening Bosnia accession talks

Eight years on, the EU Commission is to recommend on Tuesday that member states open accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina after the country took "impressive steps" to meet the bloc's standards, Ursula von der Leyen said.

Opinion

How the EU can raise its game in the Middle East

Could the EU repair its reputation and credibility by taking action on Gaza? EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, Spain, Belgium and Ireland, have worked hard to repair the damage, but have faced political headwinds due to internal divisions.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us