April 19, 2013: Serbia and Kosovo sign a deal marking a
milestone in their relations and a demonstration of EU soft
power. How did the deal come about, what is its design, and what
solutions does it bring? Tomislav Nikolic left the ultra-
nationalist political past behind, embraced the EU aspirations
for Serbia, found new allies in the West and became new
president of Serbia. His victory is largely attributed to
growing dissatisfaction of Serbian voters with bad economy,
corruption and overall state of democracy under the rule of his
opponent, Boris Tadic and his party. This article sheds some
light on the political past, present and future of the new
Serbian leader. Four years after the declaration of independence
the Serbs in Northern Kosovo voted against the institutions of
the young state. But although official Belgrade and Priština
have opposite opinions on the future status of Kosovo none of
them supported the referendum. Why is this so and what are the
possible consequences of the referendum? Last week