Kosovo made a historic choice for independence last month.
Serbia will soon have a chance to make its own historic choice ? either for a better future as part of the European Union or for isolation, stagnation and decline.
It is no surprise that Kosovo’s declaration has led to the breakdown of Serbia’s coalition government and a call for new elections.
Kosovo has been a symbol of Serbian nationalism since the 14th century.
Every significant political party in Serbia vowed to prevent Kosovo’s independence, though they proved powerless Those parties now have different ideas about how to proceed.
The Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic offers the most sensible policy.
It favors moving quickly to qualify Serbia for membership in the European Union.
That is an economic necessity.
It also makes strategic and diplomatic sense.
Serbia weakened its hand by allying with Russia against the European Union and refusing to negotiate in good faith over Kosovo independence.
Serbia’s voters endorsed Mr. Tadic’s approach in January when they re-elected him president.
His margin was narrow, and the anger that followed Kosovo’s declaration may have strengthened ultranationalists who favor freezing relations with the European Union, so long as it supports Kosovo independence.
A clear victory for Mr. Tadic’s party would be best for Serbia, Europe and the United States.
Washington and Brussels can help, not through a smothering embrace of Mr. Tadic, but through concrete steps to reassure and protect Kosovo’s ethnic Serb minority.
Before declaring independence, Kosovo’s predominantly ethnic Albanian government accepted a Westernbacked plan for supervision of its new institutions.
The NATO contingent that will remain in Kosovo and the European Union police and justice supervisory teams that have begun arriving need to ensure that Kosovo’s Serbs are shielded against violence and discrimination and that their food and energy supplies are secure.
The Bush administration, which has unequaled influence with the new Kosovo government, must insist that it continually demonstrate its desire for reconciliation with the Serb minority and with Belgrade.
Yugoslavia’s murderous implosion began almost two decades ago with Slobodan Milosevic’s manipulation of Serbian nationalist passions over Kosovo.
How fitting if that era could end this spring with a resounding vote for pragmatism and progress by Serbia’s people.