[ Western Balkans and EU ]

"They did it. Contrary to expectations, they did it. Not the Kosovars who declared independence from Serbia on Sunday. But the European Union. Faced with Kosovo's long-expected move, the 27 EU countries largely stuck together, more or less agreed on a line to take, and have now begun the orderly deployment of a new ESDP mission." (Daniel Korski in the Guardian/Comment is free).

Indeed, the EU Council decided on Saturday 16 February to launch an EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo - EULEX Kosovo - which is due to start "after a 120-day transition period from the decision to launch", that is in about 4 months. After this important decision, the EU Council agreed to disagree on Monday on recognising the independence of Kosovo. It merely noted "that Member States will decide, in accordance with national practice and international law, on their relations with Kosovo." (cf. Tagesschau, 18.2.2008, click on "EU zu Kosovo"). 

On this website you can see which member states already recognised Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state (cf. here the declaration of independence). Meanwhile Kosovo is speeding up works on a new constitution (you can download the draft text) and thinking about opening up to 14 embassies all over the world.

... Independent and sovereign? Or rather "dependent", as some analysts argue? (cf. a more positive and a more negative comment in the Standard).

Most EU member states volunteered to send a total of max. 1900 international prosecutors, judges, police officers, and custom officers within the new EULEX Kosovo mission, led by Yves de Kermabon (read here some useful background info on the EU in Kosovo). Together with about 1100 local staff they will "will assist Kosovo authorities, 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, ensuring that these institutions are free from political interference andadhering to internationally recognised standards and European best practices." The budget of the the EULEX mission will be 205 million euro for an initial phase of 16 months.

The overall co-ordination of the EU presence in Kosovo will be guaranteed by the EU Special Representative Pieter Feith (click here for his CV and here for an interview with him published on the Balkan outlooks blog).

TOL analyst T. Loza points out independence will not be a "piece of cake". Eric Gordy, author of the East Ethnia blog, thinks that "it will take serious and committed work to assure that the new situation means something more than jobs for a new crowd of politicians. ... Kosovo and Serbia are both now states, and each one has the opportunity now to show that it has the capacity to behave like a responsible one."

This is an important message not only for Kosovo, but also for Serbia. After the heated reaction of PM Kostunica to Kosovo's "secession", a small group of radical protestors attacked the US and Slovenian embassies and the headquarters of the Serbian liberal party. A mysterious organisation calling itself "Mlada Bosnia" claimed to be responsible for a hand granade attack in Mitrovica and two border crossings have been set on fire. Serbia recalled its ambassadors from Washington, Paris, and Ankara. The Serbian government also decided to block Kosovo's membership in the UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe. At least for membership in the UN, Serbia does not have such a blocking power, as the admission of new members is decided by 2/3-majority voting in the UN General Assembly. Nevertheless, the main problem of these steps is that they further contribute to isolating Serbia within (South Eastern) Europe.