ABSTRACT
The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) deployed in 2008 is the biggest and most expensive mission of its sort in the history of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy. This chapter deconstructs the language through which EULEX explains its operations in Kosovo and how it communicates its activities to the public. It also deconstructs the ambiguities surrounding EULEX and Kosovo's political status. One way how EULEX deviates from its ‘status-neutral’ mandate is when it engages with structures and institutions of Kosovo as an independent state. Successive Heads of EULEX have reiterated EULEX to be a technical mission and that it remains neutral when it comes to Kosovo's political status. Yet, Kosovo often figures as an independent country in the communications of EULEX. At other times, the independence is silenced from the text and a more generic line of communication takes over.
