When on February 16 the European Union officially announced its plans to launch its own police, justice and customs mission in what would within 24 hours be an independent state rather than a Serbian province, it probably did not expect to see its ambitions of making it operational within four months go down the drain.

EULEX, which was originally intended to start safeguarding the rule of law in Kosovo in mid-June, currently has a mere quarter of its staff dispatched and the wrangles surrounding its legal framework are steadily diminishing the credibility of its presence in the newly-founded state, not to mention its supposed December start-off.

The deployment of the mission has seen many an obstacle. Most recently, on November 18, Kosovo once again firmly stated, in a four-point declaration, that it would not accept the deal drafted in early November on EULEX between Serbia, the United Nations and the EU because Pristina deemed it a threat to its sovereignty. The statement came after 10 days of increased diplomatic pressure on Pristina from senior UN and EU officials, who wanted to see their hard-bargained deal with Belgrade finally allow their mission to start functioning.

Leaks to the media described the deal as a revised version of the six-point plan on the reconfiguration of the UN mission in Kosovo UNMIK that UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon presented back in June to make way for the EU's civilians. The revisions were said to guarantee EULEX's neutrality on the international status of Kosovo, as well as its non-interference with the police in Kosovo's Serb-inhabited northern areas, who, for their part, were said to be allowed to collect the money received in revenue at Kosovo's northern border points.

Striking the deal with Serbia may have seemed a considerable advancement on the way to finally resolving the EULEX dilemma. From the very beginning, Serbia said that no body other than the UN had the power to authorise sending any civilian staff to its former southern province. And given the presence of strong Serbian ally Russia as a permanent veto-wielding member at the UN Security Council, no decision against Serbian interests seemed possible. Serbia's other two demands included that EULEX take a neutral stance on the status of Kosovo and that its deployment have no connection with the UN-envoy Martti Ahtisaari plan, which in effect opened the way for Kosovo independence.

In the end it turned out, however, that achieving an agreement with Belgrade on its requests on EULEX was not enough. It was the turn of another party deeply interested in the matter of the deployment of what is the largest civilian mission ever launched under the European Security and Defence Policy, in fact - the most interested one, to speak up. At a news conference on November 10 in the Kosovo capital Pristina, Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu and prime minister Hashim Thaci slammed the plan as a breach of Kosovo's sovereignty and territorial integrity and said that while clearly aimed at reaffirming UN Security Council resolution 1244, which sees Kosovo as part of Serbia, it violated the Ahtisaari plan, website Balkan Insight reported.

As a result of this fierce disagreement, the United Nations Security Council debate that had been scheduled for November 11 to discuss Ban's report on Kosovo and the proposed deployment of the EULEX mission was postponed, reportedly at the request of two permanent members of the Security Council.

Regardless of the Kosovar objections, the EU kept hoping to see the decision of its November 10-11 General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting "the mission to fulfil its mandate from the beginning of December 2008" become effective. Pristina, however, resisted the pressure.

Shortly before president Sejdiu came up with the four-point declaration, prime minister Thaci reiterated in an interview with Serbian broadcaster B92 that the deal negotiated with Serbia was by no means acceptable to Kosovo.

"Belgrade is the problem, because it definitely needs to realise that Kosovo is an independent and democratic country," Thaci said. "Belgrade has no jurisdiction over Kosovo, and Belgrade's tendencies must be forgotten once and for all. There will be no illegal or illegitimate structures in Kosovo, no parallel judicial system, police, customs or other sectors," he said.

The Kosovo public and opposition firmly backed the government in its refusal to accept the revised EULEX plan. Tensions grew as high as to see an explosive thrown at the building of the International Civilian Office in Pristina, where EU Special Representative for Kosovo Pieter Feith resides. The November 14 incident, luckily, caused no injuries.

The Kosovo authorities harshly condemned it and said that "only the enemies of Kosovo" could suggest there was a connection between the blast and Kosovo's rejection of the EU-UN-Serbia plan. The French Presidency of the EU also condemned the attack, but at the same time confirmed the EU's "determination to work towards establishing the rule of law in Kosovo for the benefit of its entire population, through the European police and justice mission in Kosovo (EULEX Kosovo) which is currently being deployed".

While Kosovo maintained its resistance to the plan and a number of non-governmental organisations scheduled a protest against it for November 19, Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic said that Serbia would not negotiate any further.

"We greatly appreciate the efforts of the international community to persuade the organs in Pristina that the road of compromise is the only road forward that will enable peace and stability in the southern province. As far as we're concerned, the talks are over," Jeremic told Serbian state RTS television, as quoted by Beta news agency and reported by broadcaster B92, late on November 18.

He said that Belgrade expected UN Security Council approval of the deal struck with the UN and the EU.

Amid speculation that Brussels intends to make its mission start working at the beginning of December, no matter the current state of the talks, EULEX's future remains uncertain.