Born last Sunday, the independent republic of Kosovo is still far from bonny and blithe. Europe will have to work extra hard to teach this new addition to its family the first steps in looking after itself. Kosovo has finally broken away from Serbia and, with its new flag and constitution, calls itself a “democratic, secular and multi-ethnic” state. But the problem lies with that “multi-ethnic”. Ten per cent of the two million Kosovars are Serbians, a minority that refuses to identify — culturally and politically — with the Albanian majority, and still runs a sort of nation within a nation, looking towards the Serbian capital of Belgrade for almost every kind of sustenance. The Ibar river is not the only thing, therefore, that divides Kosovo into two, with the Serbian enclaves now huddling apprehensively north of it. The threat of partition is a real one looming over this fledgling nation. It is important for a new nation to be recognized as one by the rest of the world. And important bits of the world seem to be worryingly divided over this as well. Serbia sharply disapproves of what it sees as an unlawful act of secession, and it has Russia’s full and ominous support. The European Union approves — more or less, but not unanimously. Spain has refused to fall in with the rest, worried about its own integrity. It has Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania on its side. The EU’s economic, political and military support is crucial for Kosovo as it learns to stand on its own feet after years of being carried along by the United Nations and Nato. Britain and the United States of America are, of course, thrilled, the latter having been perhaps the most important motivating force behind this breaking away.

Marking the end of the long, and often violent, falling apart of Yugoslavia, Kosovo’s new-found independence does not, in itself, take care of the poverty, high infant-mortality and unemployment rates and corruption that are endemic to the region. It is now the poorest country in Europe. Depending on European largesse initially should not prevent Kosovo from developing its considerable agricultural, mineral and energy resources. But building peace with the Serbians within (who find the tables suddenly turned) and making them feel at home will remain the key to Kosovo’s stability in its first years as a republic.