EU to adopt decision to launch EULEX by end of the week
The European Union will adopt the Operations plan and the formal decision to lauch its EULEX mission to Kosovo by the end of this week, high-ranking EU officials said in Brussels.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, February 14, 2008
The necessary documents will be adopted in a speedy, written procedure, which will allow EULEX to start deploying in Kosovo within a week.
"The decision will be brought by the end of the week, before the meeting of the EU ministers on Monday", officials said.
EULEX will be made of 2,000 international officials, policemen, judges and prosecutors from the majority of EU countries, as well as from the US, Croatia, Turkey, Norway and Switzerland.
There will also be 1,000 local staff.
Some 1,400 internationals will be policemen, among which 750 will be members of four special police units.
« The EU mission will be deployed on the entire territory of Kosovo, including in the north", they said.
EULEX will be headed by French general Yves de Kermabon, while Dutchman Peter Feith will be the EU special representative and likely future international representative.
They will both have the so-called "Bonn powers", that is executive powers similar to those of High representatives in Bosnia.
"These executive powers are needed by the mission and can be used in everyday situations, when local authorities cannot deal with sensitive issues, such as war crimes, organized crime or corruption", EU officials said.
"They could also be used for dismissing key officials who do not act in a democratic way", the officials said.
EULEX deployment will last four months and will be executed in five waves.
During the four-month "transition period", Unmik will remain responsible in Kosovo.
The EU plans to gradually take over from Unmik, although it remains unclear on how it will do that without a UN decision in New York.
