Below is a press release by the European Union External Action Service:

The European Union, in response to an invitation by the President of Kosovo, is launching today [20 May 2014] an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Kosovo to observe the early legislative elections scheduled for 8 June 2014. The deployment of the EOM is another mark of the continuous commitment of the EU, and follows the deployment of an EOM from October 2013 to February 2014 for the observation of the municipal elections. This reflects the EU's long term efforts to support credible, transparent and inclusive elections in Kosovo.

Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, has appointed Mr. Roberto Gualtieri, Member of the European Parliament, as Chief Observer for this EOM. A core team of eight EU election analysts is being deployed to follow the electoral preparation. More than 80 observers will join the core team in the coming days.

The EOM will issue a Preliminary Statement of its initial findings at a press conference in Pristina shortly after election day, followed by a Final Report a few weeks after the publication of final results.

 For more information, see the EU EOM webpage: http://eeas.europa.eu/eueom/missions/index_en.htm