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Eastern dimension and the Balkans / Backgrounder

The EU's challenge in Kosovo

08/05/2007 By Sofia Sebastián

Kosovo’s final status is scheduled to be decided soon. After extensive and unsuccessful negotiations between the main parties to the dispute, the decision on the final status of the Balkan entity will be taken to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

If a resolution conceding supervised independence is approved, the EU will be set to implement one of the biggest operations in its history.

But uncertainties remain, including over Russia’s possible use of its veto powers; Serbia’s response to an independent Kosovo; and division among European countries over the future of the entity. Indeed, many analysts observe that the uncertainties have increased during the last year, and that the granting of independence now looks far from assured.

Published in the leadup to a resolution that is due to decide Kosovo’s final status, this Backgrounder considers the challenges for the future EU mission that is set inter alia to monitor ethnic relations and strengthen Kosovo’s nascent democratic institutions.

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Keywords

Conflict resolution Democracy promotion EU Negotiation Serbia State building Western Balkans

Related publications

• Can Democratic Elections Solve a Civil War? The case of Serbia and Kosovo
• De jure vs. de facto: a pyrrhic victory in Kosovo?
• Kosovo: From International Province to State?
• Kosovo: the best of the bad solutions
• The Kosovo Quandary: on the International management of statehood

Bio author: Sofia Sebastián

Sofia Sebastian is a PhD candidate in the Government Department at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she teaches a seminar on democracy and democratization processes. The title of her thesis is 'The Interplay of Domestic and International Actors in the Process of Political Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina.' Prior to her PhD studies, Sofia earned an MSc in Foreign Service with a focus on foreign policy and international security at Georgetown University under the sponsorship of the Fulbright Commission. Sofia received her BA in Political Science and International Relations from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.