Searching for a solution in Kosovo

With the UN deadline for a final status agreement on Kosovo passing without success, we are now into a dangerous and unpredictable phase. The Kosovans will declare independence at some point in the near future, although the word is that they will wait months not week before doing so. A Kosovan declaration of independence will be regarded as unacceptable by the Serbians—egged on by the Russians.

The challenge, as David Miliband acknowledged on Today this morning, is to find something to offer the Serbs to persuade them to accept Kosovan independence. Previously, Belgrade hinted heavily that membership of the European Union would make them take a softer line on Kosovo yet EU enlargement is now regarded as politically impossible. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, General Sir Mike Jackson, former commander of KFOR, suggested that one possible solution would be to transfer the territory north of the river Ibar, where the majority of the Serbian population of Kosovo live, back to Serbia.