New Kosova Report

EU gives OK to Kosovo mission

Tuesday, 05 February 2008

EU gives OK to Kosovo mission

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Union on Monday gave the green light for a mission to help ease Kosovo's transition to independence from Serbia, but with no launch date given, diplomatic sources said.

The E.U. member states gave their formal agreement to the 2,000-strong mission, mostly police and justice officials, the day after Serbia's pro-West President Boris Tadic won re-election.

Cyprus, which has long suffered its own internal division since the Turkish north declared independence, abstained in the decision - a move that will not threaten its implementation, the sources said.

E.U. ambassadors in Brussels had given preliminary approval to the plans for the U.N.-approved force last Friday.

The mission will not be deployed until it gets the signal to go, a decision which would "in principle" require a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers, one of the sources said.

The next scheduled foreign ministers meeting is in Brussels on Feb. 18.

Monday's decision comes after Tadic's election run-off victory over a pro- Russian, nationalist opponent and ahead of an expected declaration of independence from the U.N.-administered breakaway province on Kosovo.

The E.U. is keen to have its mission in place before Kosovo breaks away.

Most E.U. nations and the U.S. are ready to recognize Kosovo when it declares independence, despite staunch opposition from Serbia and its ally, Russia.

The length of the E.U. mission, expected to cost some EUR200 million in 2008, is unclear. However, diplomats have regularly spoken of Kosovo being under " supervised independence" for five to 10 years.

Newspapers in Kosovo said Tadic's victory opens the door for Kosovo to declare independence soon from Belgrade.

"Independence now," said the front-page headline in the daily Express, stressing world powers had pressed Kosovo Albanian leaders to hold off on any declaration until after Sunday's runoff.

Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaign forced Belgrade-backed forces to end a brutal crackdown on Albanians.

NATO has some 17,000 soldiers in the province who operate alongside more than 7,000 local and 1,500 U.N. police officers.