"EULEX ready in December"

The EULEX deployment is continuing in Kosovo and will be "ready" by early December, say mission officials. According to the AFP agency, the deployment is taking place in spite of Pristina's opposition to the UN provisions concerning its operation. "EULEX ready in December" The Kosovo authorities, however, continue to reject the UN-sponsored six-point plan for the EU mission's functioning that has already received Serbia's approval. Under the EU decision, around 2,000 police officers, judges and customs officials are due to assume their posts throughout Kosovo as part of the EULEX mission, the successor to UNMIK. "The deployment is going well. EULEX will be ready in early December. We will be ready to perform our mandate from that moment," said a EULEX spokesman. "Between now and the start of December we'll have 1,300 international personnel and several hundred local staff. That way the mission's size will gradually expand towards the 2,000 mark," he said. Meanwhile, ahead of next week’s expected UN Security Council session on EULEX, EU High Representative Javier Solana and UN Sec-Gen. Ban Ki-moon are meeting in New York. Solana spoke earlier about the attempts to have the EU mission deployed to Kosovo by December with the outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, though the outcome of that meeting is still unknown.Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on officials in Pristina to cooperate with the EU in order to resolve the EULEX issue. Brown’s spokesman announced that the government in London did not support Ban’s six-point plan, nor the four-point plan of the temporary authorities in Kosovo, but called on “both sides to work hard to overcome the existing differences,” the BBC reports. Brown and his Foreign Secretary David Miliband discussed the deployment of the EULEX mission with Kosovo President and Prime Minister Fatmir Sejdiu and Hashim Thaci. Although the Kosovo authorities have been under strong pressure of late to accept the six-point plan defining the mandate of the EU mission to Kosovo, over which the UN and Serbia have reached agreement, Pristina continues to obstruct the process. Javier Solana (FoNet, archive)

"EULEX ready in December"

The Kosovo authorities, however, continue to reject the UN-sponsored six-point plan for the EU mission's functioning that has already received Serbia's approval.

Under the EU decision, around 2,000 police officers, judges and customs officials are due to assume their posts throughout Kosovo as part of the EULEX mission, the successor to UNMIK.

"The deployment is going well. EULEX will be ready in early December. We will be ready to perform our mandate from that moment," said a EULEX spokesman.

"Between now and the start of December we'll have 1,300 international personnel and several hundred local staff. That way the mission's size will gradually expand towards the 2,000 mark," he said.

Meanwhile, ahead of next week’s expected UN Security Council session on EULEX, EU High Representative Javier Solana and UN Sec-Gen. Ban Ki-moon are meeting in New York.

Solana spoke earlier about the attempts to have the EU mission deployed to Kosovo by December with the outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, though the outcome of that meeting is still unknown.Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on officials in Priština to cooperate with the EU in order to resolve the EULEX issue.

Brown’s spokesman announced that the government in London did not support Ban’s six-point plan, nor the four-point plan of the temporary authorities in Kosovo, but called on “both sides to work hard to overcome the existing differences,” the BBC reports.

Brown and his Foreign Secretary David Miliband discussed the deployment of the EULEX mission with Kosovo President and Prime Minister Fatmir Sejdiu and Hashim Thaci.

Although the Kosovo authorities have been under strong pressure of late to accept the six-point plan defining the mandate of the EU mission to Kosovo, over which the UN and Serbia have reached agreement, Priština continues to obstruct the process.