BRUSSELS – The Committee of the Council of the European Union decided to extend the mandate of the EULEX mission until June 14, 2025. “In the context of the strategic overview of EULEX, the Political and Security Committee (PSC) has agreed that EULEX’s mandate should be extended until June 14, 2025”, according to the statement from the Council of the EU, reports KoSSev.
This Committee also agreed that, in addition to its tasks, the EULEX mission should assist the Kosovo authorities in exchanging information with regional counterparts in the field of legal assistance and cooperation in the fight against criminal activities.
This document also states the finances, i.e., the funds for the needs of EULEX from the 15th of June 2023 until the 14th of June, 2025. It amounts to 165.310.000 euros in total. A sum of 58.500.000 euros will be used to cover the costs of EULEX in Kosovo, and for supporting “court proceedings that have been moved to the territory of an EU member state”, a sum of 106.810.000 euros.
However, the document specifies that the funding for the following period will be decided by the Council of the EU.
The mandate of EULEX was extended several times in previous years. It was last extended in 2021, for a period of two years, i.e., on June 14. The Council of the European Union then decided to transfer the task of operational support to the dialogue under the auspices of the EU until the end of 2022.
In the meantime, the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, informed the high representative of the EU in a letter about the continuation of EULEX’s mandate, but for one year. Osmani stated in the letter that EULEX will have a technical mandate, without executive power, which is based only on monitoring, mentoring and giving advice, and that it is possible to extend the mandate of EULEX for another year if she positively evaluates the work of this mission.