The Portuguese and French gendarmes of the Reserve Formed Police Unit (Reserve FPU) of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) have been re-deployed to their respective countries.

In March 2022, EULEX temporarily reinforced its Formed Police Unit (FPU) with a Reserve Unit of 70 gendarmes from Portugal and France provided by the European Gendarmerie Force.

The Reserve FPU was deployed in response to EULEX’s need to have additional forces on the ground to be able to better support its Kosovo counterparts if requested and if necessary, taking into consideration the security environment in Kosovo and the security situation in the region.

Throughout their deployment in Kosovo, the FPU and the Reserve FPU have worked shoulder to shoulder to fulfil EULEX’s mandate, and have participated in joint trainings with the Kosovo Police and KFOR.

EULEX’s regular FPU, which currently consists of 105 Polish police officers stationed in Mitrovica, is Kosovo’s second security responder, forming part of a three-layer security responder mechanism where Kosovo Police is the first security responder, EULEX is the second, and NATO/KFOR is the third.