It was something completely new: when the members of the Kosovan parliament in Pristina proclaimed Kosovo’s independence on 17 February, humanity was able to follow the birth of the world’s youngest country live on television. Yet neither the dignified ceremony nor the evening celebrations in the Kosovan capital were able to detract from the fact that the sovereignty of Kosovo, the seventh and probably last country to ensue from the disintegration of Yugoslavia, will remain only partial in the near future. That is because the Kosovans had placed their new independence under international supervision in order to gain support for this step from at least the western part of the international community. The arrangement was defined in the solution package of UN mediator (and former Finnish President) Martti Ahtisaari. According to the Ahtisaari plan, which is simultaneously the foundation document of the state of Kosovo, in future, several international organizations will ensure that Kosovo’s democratic development progresses and that the young state respects the rights of the minorities that live within its frontiers, above all the Serbs. The main role here falls upon the European Union, whose common foreign and security policy (CFSP) faces its greatest challenge in Kosovo.
At the very heart of the European engagement in Kosovo is the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX Kosovo. The first Head of the EULEX Kosovo mission will be Frenchman Yves de Kermabon, a former general with experience of the Balkans. He has led deployments in Bosnia-Herzegovina and for a year from September 2004 was Commander of the Kosovo Force (KFOR), whose troops will remain stationed in the now independent country. However, his new assignment is not a military one: EULEX is a purely police and rule of law mission – and also the largest civilian mission the EU has ventured to undertake in the history of its common foreign and security policy. Specialist personnel from the member states are primarily intended to advise and supervise the young country’s police, judiciary and customs authorities. At least 1,829 “internationals” from EU and third countries are to be sent for that purpose. They will be joined by some 1,100 local employees from Kosovo itself. Germany, which officially recognized the Republic of Kosovo on 21 February 2008, will be contributing up to 180 police officers and more than 30 judicial, customs and administrative experts. EULEX will officially make its appearance at the end of a 120-day transition period following independence. The mission will be financed out of the European Union’s CFSP budget. The German share of this funding currently amounts to just under 21%.
The smaller, but politically more important mission is that led by Dutch EU diplomat Pieter Feith: the International Civilian Office (ICO) has some 300 staff, of whom 80 will come from EU countries. Feith, who was born in Rotterdam, has also already had a great deal of international experience. In addition to Bosnia, he has also worked for the EU in Iraq and Indonesia, among other places. It is the ICO’s job to advise the government of Kosovo on the reforms that should ideally lead to the country’s EU membership in the distant future. However, it would be a considerable understatement to see Feith only as a kind of EU “chief adviser”, because his double function as Head of the ICO and EU Special Representative gives him extensive powers of intervention in political processes in Kosovo. Similar to the EU High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Feith will be able to annul laws and dismiss elected officeholders if they challenge the letter or the spirit of the Ahtisaari plan for supervised independence. Furthermore, local politicians can only occupy the top positions in Kosovo’s customs authority, tax administration or Central Bank with his approval. Yet, although the ICO is led by an EU Special Representative, the mission is not a purely European affair. The deputy head of the authority will be an American. Furthermore, only just over half the budget will be funded by the European Union. Responsibility for one quarter will be assumed by the United States, while the remainder will come from countries like Norway and Switzerland. Recruitment for this mission is still running, which is why it is not yet possible to predict how the individual countries will contribute.
It is absolutely clear, however, that Germany will continue to make a major contribution. That has been the case ever since Kosovo was declared a United Nations (UN) protectorate under the interim administration of a UN mission after the end of the NATO air war against Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia in 1999. The Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, has always assumed an important role within KFOR and is also currently the largest provider of troops.
Additionally, Germans always held prominent positions in the United Nations interim administration mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Since September 2006 UNMIK has been led by Joachim Rücker, German diplomat and former Mayor of Sindelfingen. Through his work, Rücker has earnt a great deal of respect and trust from the population. He was actually meant to be the last Head of UNMIK, since the Ahtisaari plan envisaged that all the duties of the UN mission would eventually be assumed by European-led teams. At the moment, however, it is uncertain whether UNMIK will withdraw completely. It is therefore possible that Rücker will lead a small remaining UNMIK mission alongside ICO and EULEX.
