The future of Kosovo. Hope flares in the Aegean

Talks continue between Kosovo's Serbs and Albanians

KOSOVO has a new supremo. Soren Jessen-Petersen, a Danish diplomat, is to head the UN mission that runs the province. Its previous boss, Harri Holkeri, resigned in the wake of last March's violence, which saw almost 4,000 Serbs driven from their homes by angry Albanian mobs. One priority must be to get Serbs and Albanians talking again: since March Serbs have boycotted Kosovo's institutions, including the government. Talks between Kosovo, with its big Albanian majority, and the Serbian government on “doable” issues have not resumed.

Yet, perhaps surprisingly, communication between Serbs and Albanians is far from broken. Leading figures from both sides have met eight times this year, albeit outside Kosovo. Last week top advisers to Kosovo's Albanian prime minister and president met their Serb counterparts, among them Aleksandar Simic, one of the authors of a plan for Kosovo put forward by Serbia's prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica. The meeting, arranged by Eliamep, Greece's leading foreign-policy institute, took place on the Greek island of Halki.

As so often, the real business was done over wine and food. Alush Gashi, an adviser to Kosovo's president, Ibrahim Rugova, told Oliver Ivanovic, a Kosovo Serb leader, that the Albanians wanted to negotiate with Kosovo's Serbs, but that the Serbs had to return to the province's assembly if this was to happen. Flipping between Serbian, Albanian and English, politicians sought to break the deadlock.

That Serbian and Albanian policymakers are meeting can only be a good thing. But some foreign diplomats worry that the utility of these gatherings is diminishing. Getting to know each other, and eating some fine meals, are all well and good; but the time is approaching for real work. Dimitri Triantaphyllou, an adviser at the Greek foreign ministry, suggests that it would be a good moment for institutes such as Eliamep to organise a co-ordinated series of structured, low-profile meetings at which Serbs and Albanians should be asked to work out what they can agree upon, and how to put that into practice. As he puts it, “the time is ripe, because we have no time to lose.”

Too right. This weekend Serbia votes in the final round of its presidential election. If Tomislav Nikolic, an extreme-nationalist candidate, wins, he may force other Serbian politicians to be more hawkish on Kosovo. Opinion polls suggest that he will not, but they have been wrong before. In October Kosovo goes to the polls. Kosovo Albanians are running out of patience with waiting for the independence that their leaders have promised - so they could back extremists of their own. The window in which to resolve Kosovo's status peacefully may soon close.

Talks continue between Kosovo's Serbs and Albanians.