Yes to EULEX – Justice must be done…. Kosovo still needs EULEX presence/mission The current crisis in Ukraine shows the Europe needs a more active Foreign Policy and not one based on the fiction peace is there to stay no matter and decisions dominated by budget cuts. Kosovo is the best success model at hand and the EU should ensure it stays like that. Current debate on ending EULEX, the rule of law mission in Kosovo is wrong, the delays in that debate and accusations are harmful to the mission objectives. On the contrary EULEX is needed in Kosovo until it is a full member of the European Union. Furthermore similar missions should be established in all Balkan 6 candidate countries in order to support the most fragile sectors of the Rule of Law and the way justice is done in the Balkans. This potentially would help to speed up the EU accession and indeed this is needed given the external threat Europe is facing right now. The illusion of peace in Europe was based on the illusion we can keep everybody waiting in the vacuum until the EU is ready to integrate them without alternatives coming up and justice will be done by time. Justice needs strong institutions and forceful implementation to be taken serious in transition countries and Kosovo is the only place Europe materializes this strong fundament of it very existence in a future candidate country and the whole society is benefiting tremendously. To stop that would be a folly. Small nations based on close networks between political and economic elites and with a considerable influence of organized crime on politics, do need outside and independent justice support with a clear executive mandate. Obviously the political elite is less pleased by such kind of support because suddenly it is them as targets of an independent prosecution. Austrian prosecutors up to today are depending on orders of the Minister of Justice and as well Turkish example shows as well Prime Minister Erdogan would wish you have his prosecution better under his control. But this is the fundamental principle of the division of power in the democratic state that justice can be done independent of the powerful of the day. No matter if EULEX is operating in Kosovo with permit from UN Security Council with Resolution or by invitation from Kosovo the key is that justice in Kosovo can not be done by the Kosovo judges alone. The same is true for all Balkan countries when it comes to high level economic crime and corruption case involving political leaders and it all war related issues which are and will remain political dynamite in the Balkans. Did Austria and Germany have Austrian and Germany judges handling such cases after WWII? Since beginning Kosovo’s society has seen EULEX as a big hope for the people of Kosovo, that finally, there is a strong European rule of law mission, and simultaneously improvement of week Kosovo judicial system and as well the Kosovo authorities welcomed this mission. Good relation with Kosovo authorities continued until EULEX started to hunt for war crimes,which in the most cases the involved were either associates with Kosovo elite or corruption cases partly involving the ruling party.After these cases, suddenly EULEX was out of favor of the present government for obvious reasons. Polarized arguments coming from the political elite of Kosovo amassed much attention, with many worried about insubstantial legal system of Kosovo, should EULEX cease its assistance of rule of law for Kosovo. As recent developments have reviled, there is little equivalence between country’s reasonable accomplished facts of rule of law in several dimensions and how capable of performing its legal system is. In fact, Kosovo’s dysfunctional legal system and rule of law is paying high price from economical point of view, direct foreign investments, and low performance towards European integration, to mention just few. Without ruling out the work of Kosovo government for reforms that has undertaken to restructure judiciary, it conveys clear impression that other circumstances must be operative and effective. Precisely around these circumstance EULEX work comes into play. The affiliated political arguments regarding EULEX leaving Kosovo appears to represent more of personal interest of few particular persons due to their fear that justice will chase them, than something as a mission who has competed its mission. Indeed, incapability of local judiciary to chasing high profile cases due to fear of having serious consequences, reflects best the need of EULEX presence in Kosovo in order to serve justice. The arguments of Kosovo’s authority that Kosovo is fully flagged with capacities to serve justice, looks to be a work of an easier said than done. The lack of functional judiciary it’s visible with huge backlog case, therefore, ensuring justice should not be left at the hands of none, and with probably that justice is done only by historians. In fact, in the 6th years since Kosovo celebrated its anniversary of Independence, Kosovo has changed positively, a lot, in many areas, in terms of growth, doing business, despite a record-high level of corruption, economic crimes, and fragile legal system. Failure to build sound and culpable stable legal system to deal with all matters on its own undoubtedly legitimates EULEX’s state of being in Kosovo for some more time. Criticizing the Kosovo’s government inability to act decisively, to address the rule of law issue without giving a portion of share of failure to EULEX would sound over unrealistic taking in consideration that EULEX was mandated in 2008, therefore, it could have done more to strengthen the legal system of Kosovo. It’s neither in the Kosovo’s interest nor on the interest of European community to see the cycle of missions repeating, as it happen first with UNMIK, now EULEX and who knows next another tribunal or another international court. Nevertheless, our premise is that the current situation of the legal system in Kosovo has triggered some few more years process of profound change that requires a restructured EULEX presence in Kosovo. In this respect, a wiser step for Kosovo’s institution would be by deepening the cooperation and to provide full support of EULEX handling sensitive and complex cases. The restructured EULEX and judicial system of Kosovo should head towards becoming operative, as a single institution. Together they would eradicate once and for ever rule out corruption from state institutions. The majority of rule of law stakeholders and the citizens of Republic of Kosovo discretely agree with the importance of EULEX mission in Kosovo and their task in prosecuting very high profile persons dealing with war crimes and other criminal activities, though the coverage of media doesn’t really publicize it. Furthermore, EULEX apparatus and the local judges as well as prosecutors should highly cooperate in many areas, whereby, the later could gain experience from and learn a lot from the mission. Kosovo needs EULEX’s further assistance also in terms technical support. Kosovo loses nothing should EULEX remain in Kosovo for few more years. In fact, the benefits are tremendous in terms of legal security, access to justice and better hope for Kosovo people that preserving strong rule of law, in turn would be maximized for a better welfare, economic integration and feel equal with all member states of European Union. To the end, EULEX doesn’t burden Kosovo’s budget, rather it provides employment to more than thousand local staff. .
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 16:39:16 +0000
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