Could Kosovo Make or Break Europe?

Almost two decades after the Cold War and with some looking to Europe to play a larger role in world affairs, a pesky little province of two million just refuses to go away. Eight years after the Kosovo War in which NATO troops largely consisting of the US and Germany intervened to protect Kosovar Albanians from genocide at the hands of the Serbs, progress on the ground moves constantly forward while political progress remains stalled.

As negotiations, if they can be called such, remain stalled on the final status of Kosovo, the December 10th deadline looms. As previously reported, talks have been moved outside of the United Nations and are currently underway in the Contact Group. The deadline for resolving Kosovo’s final status has been set for December 10th, 2007, barely a month away. While some reports in the German news claim more progress is being made than most expect, the world continues to expect independence. The little experiment called Yugoslavia will finally, finally be laid to rest.

Slovenia is gone. Croatia is gone. Bosnia is gone. Macedonia is gone. Montenegro is now gone. Only Kosovo remains and historical arguments aside, if Balkan borders were politicians, they’d be the worst flip-floppers of all time. The time of large scale violence is over. There will be no war. Serbia will be angry. There will be a nationalist backlash. Yet, the price of isolation will ultimately be too high as regional integration and development accelerates.

As the deadline looms and Prishtina has made clear it plans to declare independence with or without the world’s blessing, a more interesting and indeed more important question arises: Will Europe start deciding its own future? Or will one of the most important decisions of recent years be made by the United States?

If talk is cheap, then Europe is a low-cost-country for political idealism and empty rhetoric. Kosovo will be a test not of the UN, international law or even of one wills, one that demands action and the greater and long term assuming of responsibility. It is a line in the sand. Is Europe ready to cross it?