France recognized Kosovo on 18 February 2008, just after its proclamation of independence. It has played an active role in settling the Kosovo issue, first as a member of the Contact Group, a group of States tasked with monitoring the UN trusteeship over Kosovo, then, after 2004, during negotiations on the status led by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Secondly, France has maintained an active presence in the field and is one of the leading contributors to the KFOR (780 soldiers out of a total of 10,000) and EULEX (188 judges, police and customs officers, out of nearly 1,800). The French are also present within the International Civilian Office and the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (OMIK).

^{Updated on : 02.03.11}