Kosovo insists on original plan for EU mission

Nov 12, 2008, 11:17 GMT

Pristina - Kosovo on Wednesday again dismissed a revised plan for a European Union mission proposed by by Brussels and the United Nations, worrying that it would threaten its sovereignty over the restive Serb territory.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told reporters Pristina has extended a 'warm welcome and invitation' to the EU mission, the Eulex, but only if it deploys as planned, 'in the entire territory of Kosovo.'

But the plan has changed after Belgrade, which continues to fight Kosovo's slide to full-fledged independence in diplomacy, won concessions from the West.

Eulex, a law-enforcing presence of 2,000 police, judicial and customs officials, was to take over from a UN mission that governed Kosovo since NATO ousted Serbian forces from there in 1999.

In February, backed by the west, Pristina declared independence from Serbia, which sees the province as its heartland territory. Kosovo is vastly dominated by Albanians, though its northern one-quarter has a Serb majority.

However, backed by its ally Russia, Serbia locked the UN in Kosovo as it was under the nine-year old mandate and eventually pestered Brussels into shaping the Eulex differently.

On Monday Pristina was offered a modified plan for a mission that would remain under UN command - and so ultimately under Belgrade's influence - in the northern, Serb section of Kosovo. In the remaining part of Kosovo, Eulex would be run by Brussels.

Kosovo Albanian leaders rejected the plan, fearing that it would only cement the already existing partition of the territory along ethnic lines.

Belgrade, which continues fighting Pristina's secession, said it would endorse the plan in case the mission remains under the UN umbrella and was declared neutral in regard to Kosovo's legal status.

Thaci's position caused the delay of a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, when Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was due to present the modified plan and formally pave the way for the Eulex.

Ban on Tuesday urged the Kosovo government to show 'pragmatism and flexibility' by agreeing to the mission with a revamped framework, but Thaci remained adamant.

'The international community understands ... that Eulex deploys in the entire territory of Kosovo,' he told reporters in Pristina. 'In this regard, our door has always been open.'

So far 52 countries, including United States and most EU nations, recognized Kosovo, but its full promotion in the UN was blocked by Russia, which has the power of veto in the Security Council.

In a bid to discourage more states from recognizing Kosovo, Serbia has filed a petition to the International Court of Justice at The Hague for an advisory opinion on whether Kosovo's declaration of independence was legal under international law.