The UN Security Council cleared the way on Wednesday for a European Union police and justice mission to deploy in Kosovo, in a statement welcoming agreement by Serbia and Kosovo to the move. The EU mission is intended ultimately to take over from a UN mission that has administered the former Serbian province from 1999. Kosovo, 90 percent of whose people are ethnically Albanian, declared independence from Belgrade in February.
Many Western countries have recognised Kosovo but Serbia, backed by Russia, has refused to do so. The Security Council has long been divided over the future of Kosovo and Wednesday's statement was the first time the 15-nation body had been able to agree on it since the independence declaration. In speeches to the council, Serbian and Kosovo ministers clashed over details of future operations of the EU mission, known as EULEX, but made clear they accepted the deployment.
"The Security Council ... taking into account the positions of Belgrade and Pristina ... which were reflected in their respective statements, welcomes their intentions to cooperate with the international community," said a formal statement agreed upon by all council members. "This will create the conditions for a quick deployment of EULEX," the UN special envoy to Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, told reporters. All parties had seen Security Council backing as a precondition for the EU to move in.