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EU, U.N. roles hazy in Kosovo

Constitution active Sunday

By Nicholas Kralev (Contact) | Thursday, June 12, 2008

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PRISTINA, Kosovo | Days before the West begins one of the most ambitious nation-building experiments in modern history, profound questions remain about how the day-to-day governance of Kosovo will be handled.

Kosovo now has its own government. But the U.N. mission that effectively ruled the former province of Serbia since 1999 is still here.

The country's new constitution, which takes effect Sunday, envisions no role for the United Nations, because that would imply lack of sovereignty, but it authorizes the European Union to help run Kosovo.

The EU mission, however, is viewed as illegitimate by Serbia and by its ally, Russia, which both consider Kosovo part of Serbian territory.

They say that only the U.N. Security Council can bestow the needed legitimacy on the EU mission. But the council, where Russia holds a veto, is deeply divided on how to resolve the issue.

Some are hoping U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon can sort things out.

Still, it is not clear whether Mr. Ban's decision will lessen the confusion among Kosovo´s 2 million people, 90 percent of whom are ethnic Albanians. The rest are Serbs and other minorities.

"Three masters are too much for Kosovo," Bardh Hamzaj, editor in chief of the daily Zeri, said in reference to the national government, the EU and the U.N. "It´s not clear who will do what."

At this point, more is known about the EU's role here after Sunday than the future of the U.N. mission, which was established after the NATO military campaign against Serbia nine years ago.

The 27-member EU has sent a special representative, Pieter Feith, who also heads the International Civilian Office (ICO). Some say he will be the most powerful man in Kosovo after Sunday because he will have the last word when political agreement on various issues cannot be reached.