Yesterday, the International Steering Group for Kosovo agreed to end the supervised independence of Kosovo in September. The steering group is made up of 23 European countries, the United States, and Turkey. The Steering Group said that Kosovo had made significant steps to implementing the Comprehensive Settlement Proposal (CSP) which included laws for cultural and religion heritage protections and community rights.
What does the end of Supervised Independence mean for Kosovo? Well, the International Civilian Office (ICO), headed by Peter Feith, which hold executive authority to oversee independence will be closed down in September. The European Rule of Law Mission (EULEX), KFOR (NATO's Kosovo Force) and UNMIK will still remain in Kosovo.
In other news, Italian Member of Parliament Pino Arlacchi has sent a series of questions to the European Commission on the progress of EULEX investigations who stated that UNMIK and EULEX "has something to hide". Arlacchi has been requesting status reports on 11 cases handed over to EULEX from UNMIK which cited criminal conduct involving more than 60 million Euros related to the privatization of Kosovo's electricity.
Also, the sale of Post & Telcomm Kosovo (PTK) has restarted after it was stopped last year amid allegations of corruption and harmful contracts. The sale is in the pre-qualification stage where companies can express interest in purchasing the company. The Kosovo budget greatly relies on the sale of PTK which is expected to bring in between 300-600 million Euros.
