Kosovo’s Serbs: Bordering Along the Ibar

AT THE end of June dozens of Serbian policemen met for a boozy evening at the Quiet Night restaurant in north Mitrovica. For 14 happy years they and 1,800 colleagues were paid just to sit in cafés. But the deal struck between Serbia and Kosovo under the aegis of the European Union in Brussels in April means the era of money for nothing is ending.Kosovo, whose population is mostly ethnic Albanian, declared independence in 2008. Serbia has not recognised this nor have Serbs in northern Kosovo, where they are in the majority. Marko Jaksic, a young lawyer, says the border is not “up there” but “on the bridge”, where an earth rampart cuts Mitrovica in two over the Ibar river. Since NATO drove out Serbia’s administration in 1999, some 50,000 local Serbs have lived in a twilight world under Serbian institutions.Serbs in the rest of Kosovo have come to terms with the authorities, but those in the north still talk of resistance. They see themselves as a Balkan equivalent of the village in Gaul where Asterix resisted the Romans. Except that the Serbs have no magic potion. The Serbian government, aware that it must implement its deal to secure the start of EU accession talks next January, is cutting cash. After local elections in November the four Serb-dominated northern municipalities will officially become part of Kosovo’s system again.In February 2012 local Serbs voted in a…

The Economist: Europe