Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, banking on U.S. and European support to build up the derelict economy and prevent ethnic conflicts from breeding new chaos in the Balkans. Kosovo's parliament voted 109-0 today to sever ties with Serbia, capping a struggle for statehood that began in 1999 when a NATO bombing campaign drove Serb troops out of the heavily ethnic Albanian province of 2 million people. ``From now onward, Kosovo is proud, independent, sovereign and free,'' Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a former anti-Serb guerrilla leader, told the parliament in Pristina. ``It has been a long journey of sacrifice, but of victory as well.'' Kosovo's move for independence is the last act in the breakup of Yugoslavia, and the biggest act so far in a great- power struggle that pits the U.S. and its European allies against Russia in pursuit of influence in southeastern Europe. Kosovo's secession represents one of President George W. Bush's last opportunities to advance his ``freedom agenda'' in Europe. Most European governments plan to join the U.S. in granting diplomatic recognition to the new state. ``Our position is that its status must be resolved in order for the Balkans to be stable,'' Bush told a news conference today in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. He said the U.S. has ``strongly supported'' plans vetoed by Russia last year to grant Kosovo internationally monitored independence. Under UN Flag Legally part of Serbia since the 1999 war, Kosovo has been run by a European diplomat under a United Nations flag and policed by 16,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization peacekeepers now on high alert to prevent renewed ethnic tensions. NATO almost lost control of the province during anti- Serb riots in 2004. Serbia denounced the unilateral declaration, with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica calling the new Kosovo ``a fake state'' in the thrall of NATO and promising to re-establish Serbia's authority. Still, Serbia will respond peacefully and will ``leave the violence to the violators,'' he said on Serbian television. A celebratory mood gripped Pristina, the provincial capital of 600,000. Kosovars wrapped themselves in the red ethnic- Albanian flag emblazoned with a double-headed eagle and danced on Mother Theresa Boulevard as folk music blared from balconies. As of late afternoon, no violent incidents were reported. Mythic Status Kosovo has a 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, with an estimated 130,000 Serbs scattered along the northern and eastern borders with Serbia and in isolated pockets. Yet the province has near-mythic status in Serb culture, dating back to the defeat of Serb forces by Ottoman invaders in 1389. Slobodan Milosevic, the Serb leader who was ousted in 2000 and died in 2006, made repression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians the cornerstone of his campaign for a greater Serbia, starting with a June 1989 trip to the province to mark the 600th anniversary of that battle. In a 45-minute session, Kosovo's parliament passed a declaration that commits it to respecting minority rights, set a goal of joining the European Union and NATO, and rejected Russian assertions that independence will create a precedent for other separatist conflicts. Nine years of western management have failed to lift Kosovo out of poverty. Unemployment is close to 50 percent, wealth per person is 5 percent of the EU average, and corruption and organized crime are rampant, the European Commission says. Yugoslav Dissolution For the 27-nation EU, the creation of a new state is a chance to dispel the ghosts of the 1990s, when Europe had to rely on the American military to halt the bloody dissolution of Yugoslavia. ``The credibility of Europe is at stake both in terms of the role of EU peacekeepers in preventing violence, and of Europe's politicians in achieving unity in the face of certain severe diplomatic protest,'' Richard Howitt, a British Labour member of the European Parliament, said in an e-mailed statement. For the emboldened Russia of President Vladimir Putin, statehood for a 10,900-square-kilometer plot of land in the Balkans is a provocation that could encourage restive minorities along the former Soviet Union's southern rim. Russia ``solidly'' backs Serbia in condemning Kosovo's secession and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting later today, the Foreign Ministry said on its Web site. Putin Blocks UN Putin blocked a UN independence resolution last year, forcing Kosovo and Serb leaders to return to the negotiating table to seek an amicable settlement. That effort broke down in early December. The U.S. and leading European governments, including Britain, France and Germany, intend to establish diplomatic ties with Kosovo. At least five EU countries -- Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain -- plan to withhold that status, fearing it would encourage separatists within their own borders. Still, all 27 EU countries agreed yesterday to send a 1,900-strong team of administrative experts to take over the UN's role in helping manage the province. That mission will deploy over the next four months. In London, the U.K. Foreign Office called the declaration an ``important development'' and said Britain will coordinate its stance on recognition of Kosovo in a meeting of EU foreign ministers tomorrow in Brussels. Serbian Threats Kosovo's unilateral proclamation without the unanimous endorsement of the UN Security Council creates a legal no-man's- land. Serbia has threatened to downgrade relations with countries that recognize Kosovo, and may attempt to squeeze the province's heavily aid-dependent economy. EU leaders, in turn, are wooing Serbia with the promise of eventual membership, counting on recently re-elected ----western President Boris Tadic to reconcile the 7.5 million Serbs to the loss of Kosovo. While an independent Kosovo has been in the making since the war with NATO, European support for the renegade province has triggered a crisis within the Serb government. Kostunica last week spurned an offer of closer ties with the EU, calling it a European ploy to get Serbia to part with Kosovo. Tadic was sworn in for a second term last week, pledging to do both: hold on to Kosovo while steering Serbia toward EU membership. ``Serbia reacted and it will react with all peaceful, diplomatic and legal means to annul this act of Kosovo's interim bodies,'' Tadic said today. -Story located on Bloomberg ---------- Well, this is both convenient for a warring region, yet makes me worry. Independent state have always been trouble-some, and I am beginning to wonder if this will be another.
