The final status of the UN-run province of Kosovo is on the international agenda, but the future looks grim. The status quo cannot go on for much longer. Belgrade flatly rejects any hint of independence for the region, but it seems only a matter of time before that very scenario materializes. After the parliamentary elections in October last year, which were dominated by ethnic Albanians, demands for immediate independence have intensified.

The UN Security Council report due to be published in June will determine the course of events. It is an open secret that the United States favors outright independence, while Germany and France would like to see a more gradual approach.

So would Greece. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’s tour to Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Kosovo, which starts today, signals efforts by Greek diplomacy to put the issue back on the table at a time when the eyes of the international community are largely fixed on the Middle East.

A tour by Greek diplomats in the region, who then paid a visit to Washington for talks on the issue, has paved the way to the prime minister’s tour. It should be noted here that Western policies promoting institution building in the area have failed. So have their efforts to promote economic development and the protection of minority rights in the disputed province.

Ethnic hatred still runs deep, while half of Kosovo’s population is unemployed. When ethnic Albanians talk about independence they mean an ethnically pure state, purged of the Serbian element.

The decision on Kosovo’s final status will be extremely important in that it will also influence developments in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and southern Serbia, where talk of ethnic Albanian secessionism is rife.

To be sure, Greece has little power to decide on developments. But it is right to be trying to influence them. Given its geographical proximity to these volatile areas, Greece has a strong interest in a viable and enduring solution to all these problems. It is in that context that Athens is backing the accession of Serbia and Kosovo to the European Union. It would be a long and winding road, but the question is already on the European agenda.