BACKGROUND: The EU, the UN and Kosovo: the legal debate

Jun 12, 2008, 9:47 GMT

Brussels/Belgrade - The long-drawn-out international row over the roles the United Nations and European Union should play in Kosovo is explained by the terms of UN Security Resolution 1244, which in 1999 set up an international presence in Kosovo.

The resolution 'authorizes the UN Secretary General, with the assistance of relevant international organizations, to establish an international civil presence in Kosovo' which should oversee 'the transfer of authority from Kosovo's provisional institutions to institutions established under a political settlement.'

The civilian presence should maintain 'law and order, including establishing local police forces,' the resolution says.

On that basis, the UN has maintained a civilian administration, known as UNMIK, in Kosovo since 1999.

However, in 2007 UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari proposed a permanent solution to Serbia-Kosovo tensions by allowing Kosovo independence, but insisting on close international supervision.

Under the Ahtisaari plan, the EU was intended to take over from UNMIK in training the Kosovo police and legal authorities in a mission called EULEX.

Kosovo accepted the Ahtisaari plan and based its constitution, due to come into force on Sunday, on the plan.

But Serbia and Russia, a veto holder on the UN Security Council, rejected the Ahtisaari plan, making it impossible for UNMIK to gain UN Security Council approval for handing over to EULEX.

On January 3, 2008, the UN's current secretary general, Ban Ki- Moon, said that he 'noted the readiness of the EU to play an enhanced role in Kosovo' in a presentation to the Security Council.

On February 16, one day before Kosovo declared independence, the EU therefore ordered EULEX to start deploying, basing its authority on resolution 1244 and Ban's comment.

But uncertainty over how UNMIK could hand over authority to EULEX without UN Security Council backing, and the refusal of Serbs in Kosovo to accept EULEX as a legal body, means that only some 300 of the mission's proposed international staff of 1,800 have yet deployed.

Ban's letter on Thursday is expected to clarify at least some of the questions as to how UNMIK and EULEX are to cooperate in practice.

However, it seems unlikely to solve the fundamental question of how UNMIK can hand over all its powers to EULEX when neither Serbia, Kosovo's Serbs nor Russia see the latter as legal.