The United Nations Security Council debate that had been scheduled for November 11 2008 to debate UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's report on Kosovo and the proposed deployment of the European Union's EULEX mission has been postponed, reportedly at the request of two permanent members of the Security Council.

EULEX is a rule of law mission, with the central aim of assisting and supporting the Kosovo authorities in the rule of law area, specifically in the police, judiciary and customs areas. Meant to take over from the UN mission in Kosovo UNMIK, EULEX has been the subject of a tug o' war with Serbia insisting that it can be deployed only if Brussels agrees to a set of conditions demanded by Belgrade.

Serbian news agencies reported that Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic, who had been scheduled to attend the UN Security Council session, had said that Serbia would support the Ban Ki-Moon report on Kosovo only if it was in line with Serbian demands regarding the deployment of EULEX.

These demands include that EULEX take a neutral stance on the status of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, that the mission be deployed only with UN Security Council approval and that its deployment have no connection with the Martti Ahtisaari plan. Ahtisaari was the UN-appointed envoy whose plan in effect opened the way for Kosovo independence.

While no reasons were given for the postponement of the UN Security Council meeting, Jeremic told Serbia's Beta news agency that it had been done at the request of two permanent members of the council. He did not name them.

Kosovo's foreign minister Skender Hiseni had also been scheduled to take part in the UN Security Council session, Serbian website B92 reported.

At a news conference on November 10 in the Kosovo capital Pristina, Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu and prime minister Hashim Thaci rejected Serbian demands regarding the EULEX deployment as an "intrusion" on Kosovo's constitutional prerogatives. The news conference was delayed so that the two could have "consultations" with international representatives in Pristina.

The same day, KosovaLive reported that opposition parties in Kosova had called on the government not to accept the compromise that the international community was trying to reach as a solution for the deployment of EULEX under the conditions set by Belgrade.