This should essentially mean that the task of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) ends today, opening a new era in Kosovo both in terms of the international mandate and Kosovo's governance. Based on a proposal for Kosovo's "supervised independence" arranged by former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, a European Union-led mission, called EULEX, must be established in Kosovo as a successor to UNMIK to supervise the adherence to the rule of law. Additionally, UNMIK's governing responsibilities must be transferred to Kosovo's government today.However, by all accounts, parts of this will not happen and UNMIK will stay on in Kosovo for some time to come, albeit in a decreased capacity and with diminished staff in a "reconfigured structure," proposed by none other than UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. What EULEX will do today is not known. What is known about it already is that it will not be able to deploy fully until September at the earliest. In addition to that, there are reservations about its mandate since no UN resolution exists on this matter simply because it is not possible to get one passed in the face of Russian opposition in the UN Security Council.
UNMIK will stay on because Ban sent a letter to the presidencies of Kosovo, Serbia, the European Union and UNMIK last Wednesday in which he outlined to the parties how UNMIK would adapt after June 15, when Kosovo's constitution comes into force.
The letter was confirmed by both the Kosovo authorities and UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko later on. In this regard, Xhavit Beqiri from Kosovo's presidency said the president would first read the letter and then decide when it would be made public. Ivanko on the other hand, said it was known what the letter approximately contained although the precise details were not yet known, adding that he could not confirm or discuss the details until it actually happened.
In the letter, Ban backed the "reconfiguration" of UNMIK and recommended its "symbolic presence" in Kosovo.
The symbolic presence means that EU countries that haven't recognized the independence of Kosovo will not block future multilateral and other agreements between the EU and Kosovo as long as it has an appendix referring to UN Resolution 1244.
Although most EU member states have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia, some, such as Spain, Romania and Cyprus, have not, arguing that the recognition is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which says that Kosovo is part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The resolution in question came into force after the 1998-1999 conflict between Serb forces and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority and introduced a UN administration, namely UNMIK, which would govern Kosovo on Serbia's behalf. Since the resolution is still in force, Serbia and its chief ally, Russia, have been using it to prevent Kosovo's independence over the last two years. Unsuccessful in this regard, they recently decided to block the transfer of power from UNMIK to EULEX.
Being the chief enforcer and implementer of UN resolutions, Ban had to respect Resolution 1244. For this reason he has decided not to terminate UNMIK's task completely but extended it for a period of time in which a solution or an agreement may be reached with Russia, Serbia and other opponents, which, of course, is highly unlikely.
Being a really historic day for Kosovo and the international community, today is also a very complicated and confusing day for the newest state in Europe.
