New Kosova Report

EU in countdown to Kosovo mission launch

Thursday, 14 February 2008

EU In Countdown To Kosovo Mission Launch

BRUSSELS - European Union nations are on the verge of lifting the last political and legal obstacles to sending a justice mission to Kosovo, E.U. diplomats confirmed Thursday.

The 27 nation bloc has begun a so-called "silent procedure", which will end at midnight (2300 GMT) Friday and officially launch the mission unless any country objects and breaks that silence, the diplomats said.

The E.U. will send some 2,000 people, most of them police and justice experts, to Kosovo to help ease the Serbian province's transition to independence, which the territory's ethnic Albanian leaders are likely to declare Sunday.

The mission will consist of a political entity to supervise the transfer of powers from UNMIK, the U.N. mission that has administered Kosovo since 1999, to the local authorities.

An operational entity will train and mentor police, justice and customs officials.