The European Union flag was raised in Bosnia today as the bloc took over a policing mission from the United Nations.
The operation is seen as a litmus test for the EU's common defence policy.
About two dozen police officers from contributing nations, wearing their national uniforms topped with blue berets, stood in light snow to hear a speech by Danish Commissioner Sven Fredriksen at a brief ceremony.
"This underlines how...the rule of law is central to the EU. There can be no mistake, only the rule of law will place Bosnia firmly on the road to Europe," Mr Fredriksen said, as a policewoman placed the EU flag alongside those of Bosnia and the UN outside police headquarters.
The 500 officers of the EU Police Mission (EUPM) will train and monitor local police forces in Bosnia, still struggling to build a viable state from the wreckage of the 1992-95 war.
"This is a big test-case for the EU's Security and Defence policy, whether it can work or not. This mission has to succeed and the Union cannot allow it to fail," an EUPM official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The EU is keen to raise its security profile in 2003, and taking over the Bosnia police mission is its first move under a slowly evolving common defence policy.
After a deal last month on the use of NATO planning assets, an EU force is also set to take over an alliance-led peacekeeping mission in Macedonia in February and has offered to take over the NATO-led Stabilisation Force in Bosnia.
The 15-member EU, which underwrites Bosnia's political and economic reforms, says the EUPM is part of policies aimed at helping Balkans nations integrate with the rest of Europe.
Since 1996, the UN's International Police Task Force has carried out major policing reforms, such as dismissing those seen as unfit for service and setting modern policing standards.
The new mission will be about one third the strength of its predecessor, with about 80 per cent of officers coming from EU member states and the rest from 17 other European countries and Canada.
They will oversee about 16,000 police officers in Bosnia's two autonomous regions - the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic - plus the state border service and newly-created central security ministry and information agency.