German armed forces will continue their deployment in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of international missions, lawmakers agreed on Thursday.
The Bundestag, as the German parliament is known, has extended the mandate for the EU mission Eufor Althea and for the NATO mission KFOR by a large majority.
A maximum of 50 German soldiers must be present to ensure compliance with the Dayton peace agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia in 1995. However, the Balkan state is still seen as a potential conflict center.
NATO’s KFOR mission in Kosovo will still have around 400 German soldiers there to protect peace and public order in Kosovo, which has recently faced renewed tensions with Serbia.
Later, the Bundestag will carry out a further mission of the Bundeswehr abroad, namely to Lebanon.
Lawmakers will agree to retain up to 300 soldiers as part of the UN’s UNIFIL mission to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Lebanon.
