Kosovo Extends EU Rule-of-Law Mission Mandate

Kosovo’s government on Tuesday voted in favour of a draft law which will see the mandate of the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, extended until June 15, 2016, and guarantees the continued operation of EULEX’s Special Investigative Task Force, SITF.

The extension of EULEX’s mandate was requested by Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga.

In a letter responding to the request, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that Brussels wanted the SITF to continue probing organ trafficking allegations made in a report by Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty.

Ashton said that “the work of EULEX Kosovo’s Special Investigative Task Force and any judicial proceedings deriving from it shall continue until such time as the Council of the European Union notifies Kosovo that the investigation and these proceedings have been concluded”.

The report, published in 2010, alleged that former commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, from the so-called Drenica group - including the current Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, and other Democratic Party of Kosovo MPs, including Shaip Muja, Azem Syla and Xhavit Haliti - ran organised criminal enterprises including an ad-hoc network of detention facilities in Albania.

Meanwhile the US embassy in Pristina on Tuesday urged Kosovo lawmakers to approve the creation of a proposed new tribunal to deal with the allegations in the Council of Europe report.

“To move forward, Kosovo must deal with these allegations. Failure to create this court will force other international bodies to consider these claims. This will do immeasurable damage to Kosovo's image and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” the embassy said in a statement.

“Deputies will best serve Kosovo’s interests by committing to a credible...