By RIA Novosti
Brussels : The European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief said Tuesday that the 27-nation grouping will dispatch a police force to Serbia’s breakaway province of Kosovo after the country’s presidential election.
“The EU will be ready to give a formal go-ahead to the mission a few days after the election,” Belgian media quoted Javier Solana as saying.
The bloc plans to send a 1,800-strong mission, including lawyers and police, to the Albanian-dominated region, which is expected to unilaterally declare its independence within weeks.
The EU mission will replace the current UN administrative mission, which has been in place since the end of fighting in 1999.
Serbia will hold a presidential election runoff next Sunday after pro-Russian nationalist candidate Tomislav Nikolic took a five-point lead in last Sunday’s first round over incumbent pro-European leader Boris Tadic.
The foreign ministers of the EU countries approved the principles of the new mission in Kosovo during talks in Brussels Monday.
The EU is anxious to deploy the force before the province declares its sovereignty. The new mission to be reinforced by a NATO contingent is expected to replace a UN mission that has been deployed in the region since the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict between Albanian and Serb forces in 1999.
The decision was made after international mediators failed to broker a deal between Serbia and Kosovo, with Belgrade offering the region broad autonomy and Kosovo Albanians insisting on full independence.
Russia continues to press for a compromise on the issue, saying Kosovo will never be a fully recognized state.