"Feith mandate to be extended"

18 January 2011 | 11:11 | Source: Tanjug

PRIŠTINA -- The mandate of EU Special Representative in Kosovo Pieter Feith expires toward the end of February. However, "he could stay on for another few month, if not a whole new one-year term," Albanian language daily Koha Ditore writes today. Several diplomatic sources in Brussels reportedly told the Priština-based newspaper that Feith’s mandate will not be renewed beyond February, but that as the EU has not yet decided about its future representation in Kosovo, his mandate could be extended by several months. In the meantime, Brussels needs to decide if it wants to merge the European Commission Liaison Office and the Office of the EU Special Representative. The paper writes that the Office of EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, "despite its seemingly less than stellar relations with Feith, will have no choice but to extend his mandate". Some sources in Brussels said the EU is late in making a decision on how it wants to be represented in Kosovo in the future. Feith has been simultaneously acting as the head of the International Civilian Office, which oversees implementation of UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan, and the EU special representative in Kosovo. Belgrade greenlighted the deployment of the EU mission, EULEX, but rejected the Ahtisaari plan of supervised independence for Kosovo, which has not been approved by the UN. Comm