Following Barbano's departure, Emily Rakhorst is appointed EULEX chief leader's task fraud

In an official announcement, EULEX announced that Rakhorst will lead the mission until the new chief's appointment. The mission has also called on citizens for information on EULEX's activities to follow the official account of duty fraud on the social network X.

This change comes after the three-year mandate of Giovanni Pietro Barbanos ended Thursday, which was greeted with Kosovo through an appreciative message.

I feel deep gratitude for three years. Serving as Chief EULEX was one of the most important chapters of my professional life. I leave with many memorable friendships and memories. Thank you, Kosovo! I wish you a bright and successful future”, Barbano declared.

Who's Emily Rakhorst?

According to the official biography published by EULEX, Emily Rakhorst is a longtime international judicial adviser in conflict and post-conflict environments, as well as on missions of the European Union and the United Nations.

She graduated from law at Groningen University in the Netherlands, with specialisation in criminal law. During her career, she committed herself to international criminal justice, the pursuit of war crimes, justice reform and strengthening rule of law.

Before joining EULEX, Rakhorst was chief of the cabinet at the European Union's Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), where he led an organisation of about 350 employees responsible for monitoring implementation of the agreement that ended the August 2008 war.

It earlier led the Court Management Unit at the Kosovo Specialised Chambers Record in The Hague, was part of the planning team for the establishment of Specialised Chambers and Registers under EULEX, worked as a justice expert at the EUPOL COPPS mission in Palestine, as well as in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Emily Rakhorst will exercise the EULEX chief's office until the appointment of the mission's new leader.