Dreams of Brussels

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, paid a flying visit to Belgrade this week. He met Serbian bikers at a football match sponsored by Gazprom and talked up Russian investment. Mr Putin's visit will make Serbia stronger, boasted Vuk Jeremic, its foreign minister. Yet Russia is far away and Serbia's main goal is to win the status of candidate to join the European Union. The European Commission will pronounce in the autumn and EU leaders will decide in December, when Montenegro also hopes for approval to open membership talks.

The EU decision is crucial for Serbia's increasingly unpopular government. The ruling Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic hopes candidate status might boost its chances of winning the general election it may call early next year. The drive for candidate status also explains why Serbia is acting in such an exemplary fashion in EU-sponsored talks with Kosovo that began in Brussels earlier this month. Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and is recognised by 75 countries. The idea of the talks, says Robert Cooper, the EU official in charge, is to solve problems that can be solved. That means technical matters such as electricity, number plates and travel documents.

The talks will not lead to the recognition of Kosovo, promises Borko Stefanovic, who heads the Serbian team. Yet Mr Stefanovic says that, with goodwill, much can still be done. For example, aircraft flying to Kosovo might be allowed to fly over Serbia, which they cannot do now. Or a deal could be struck on customs stamps, because at present exports from Kosovo cannot go to or through Serbia. Yet Vladimir Todoric, a Serbian analyst, says that the government will give away as little as it can without losing its chance of candidate status. Few agree with right-wingers who think that smiling at Edita Tahiri, leader of the Kosovar team, is tantamount to treason. Still, the Serbian government has so far played down the talks to avoid controversy.

Not so the Kosovars. Serbia was well prepared, but Kosovo was not. It had no government until two weeks before the talks began. Ms Tahiri was told she would lead them only days before. The talks started without parliamentary approval. Opposition parties and civil activists are vocally against, believing the government was cajoled because the EU wants to help Serbia win candidate status-and Kosovo may get nothing.

Mr Cooper says the only way to win over the Kosovars is to produce results. Yet some fear that the partition of Kosovo may somehow be put on the table. The EU has ruled this out, so it will not formally be part of the negotiations. Moreover, now the talks have begun, the Kosovars are locked in: they would hand Serbia a huge diplomatic victory if they walked out. Their only consolation might be that, even if Serbia wins candidate status, the EU enlargement process is so bogged down that actual membership will be many years off.