EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM)
This mission was completed on 31 December 2007.
Objective
The primary objective of the EUMM is to contribute by its activities (information gathering and analysis), in line with directions from the Secretary General/High Representative and the Council, to the effective formulation of the European Union policy towards the Western Balkans. The Mission will be tasked primarily by the Secretary General/High Representative (SG/HR), but the Council may also initiate specific taskings in coordination with the SG/HR and in consultation with the Commission. The particular focus of the EUMM is to monitor political and security developments as well as border monitoring, inter-ethnic issues and refugee returns. EUMM will also contribute by its activities to early warning and confidence building measures. The Mission shall coordinate its activities closely with the European Union Heads of Mission and relevant international organisations in the Western Balkans.
Head of Mission
The Head of Mission of EUMM will be appointed by the Council, on the nomination of the SG/HR. Other international staff members of the EUMM will continue to be seconded by the Member States of the European Union and also by Norway and Slovakia, since they have been contributing personnel to the Mission for some time.
Financing
The financing of the common costs of the Mission will change. Previously the Presidency of the EU financed the budget and was later refunded by the Member States on the basis of an agreed formula. The EUMM on the other hand will be financed by a budget decided in Brussels and funded by the European Commission .
Structure
The Mission has implemented a restructuring of its organisation to a plan, agreed by the Member States in June 2000. That process is now completed. However, it should be said that, by its nature, EUMM is very flexible and adaptable to the particular needs of the developments in the region so further organisational changes could occur.
As to the place of EUMM in the EU structures, it now reports to the Council through the Secretary General/High Representative Mr. Javier Solana . The former Mission could be considered as an instrument of the Member States, whereas EUMM could be described as an instrument of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
Personnel
EUMM has approximately 120 international Monitors and 75 locally employed personnel. The Mission headquarters is in Sarajevo and it operates in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
EUMM is the former ECMM
On 22 December 2000 the Council of the European Union adopted a Joint Action (2000/811/CFSP) on the European Union Monitoring Mission. The then European Community Monitor Mission (ECMM) which has operated in the Western Balkans since July 1991, thereby became the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM).