The latest round of talks between Belgrade and Pristina appears not to have reached agreement, with the north still remaining the issue. Yet, the Ahtisaari Plan recognized that the conflict in Kosovo between Serbs and Albanians could only be peacefully resolved if a way were found to allow the two [...]

Defining the boundaries and relationship between the two Mitrovicas will require acceptance of the fact that North Mitrovica is perhaps the most zero-sum issue of all and that it cannot be simply left to Pristina to decide. 

After seeking since 2008 to support the imposition of Pristina’s rule in north Kosovo, the EU may now be shifting to a more status-neutral approach. The devil will be in the details and much will depend on whether the US goes along.

The next elections will determine whether Serbia chooses the ‘European perspective’ or the so-called ‘Kosovo path’; whether it will continue to uphold its territorial integrity or seek to amend its constitution in order to join the EU.

Kosovska Deklaracija nezavisnosti predstavlja neuspeh međunarodne zajednice da deluje izvan politike moći, pokušavajući da realpolitiku predstavi kao međunarodno pravo.

Side-stepping the sovereignty issue and avoiding partition requires increased autonomy for the Serbs north of the Ibar and some form of role for Serbia vis-à-vis the southern Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

With 2009 having ended much as it began, the international community must continue to pursue a peacekeeping approach to the north in order to keep alive the possibility of a negotiated outcome.

Though partition is far from the best way to resolve the Kosovo question, it is a political option for Kosovo as part of a final status resolution and has been used by one side already.

With the International Court of Justice’s verdict on the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence likely to be tilted in Serbia’s favour, possible elements of a future negotiation scenario, centred upon an Ahtisaari-plus approach, can already be discerned.

In the absence of a status agreement, the Quint must look at the Ahtisaari Plan once more by re-engaging Russia and focusing on trying to fill in the details through a new round of talks between Belgrade and Pristina.