EULEX’s Perceived Timidity, Lack of Results Damaging Image Among Kosovars
EULEX’s Perceived Timidity, Lack of Results Damaging Image Among Kosovars

Summary/Abstract: On April 18, a story broke in the Kosovo media: the EULEX security chief, Stefan Loren, had been suspended, allegedly due to ‘racist’ behavior towards his Albanian colleagues, while three other officers had been reassigned. EULEX described the dismissal and staff transfers as being due to ‘security concerns. The story gained big headlines in Kosovo’s media and was also reported by foreign sources, most of which (like RFE/RL) did not report the identity of the Close Protection Unit staffer involved. But Kosovar groups like The Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms were quick to describe Loren’s alleged actions as being ‘pure racism’ and declared that it was a further insult to the Albanian people to regard it as a security issue. It announced that ‘racism is a serious criminal offence and is not an administrative violation.’ And the Kosovo Omsbudperson, Sami Kurteshi, went so far as to say that the state should ‘reconsider’ its relationship with EULEX if the charges are confirmed, reported KosPress. On the same day that the story about the EULEX employee’s dismissal was making headlines in the local press, EULEX also announced that it was not within its responsibility to oversee the return of local prosecutors and judges to the courthouse in north Mitrovica, but rather that this is a political issue to be resolved in dialogue between Prishtina and Belgrade.

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