NEW YORK — Confronting the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991, former EU Council President Jacques Poos made his famous but now derided statement: "This is the hour of Europe not the hour of the Americans."
What the European Union learned from the subsequent four years of Balkan disasters under its management is now being tested by another major turning point and potential crisis — when and how Kosovo is to become independent. Once again, Europe's role may well prove decisive.
The decision on Kosovo may not imply the prospect of renewed large-scale conflict, but it does raise serious questions for Europe's relations with Russia and the United States, as well as for stability throughout the Balkans. While the U.S. has a major stake in the outcome, EU countries obviously have the most significant interests in the region, and perhaps this time they will assume a corresponding leadership role.